The weather warmed up and it wasn’t raining, yet. So Sam and I spur-of-the-moment decided to dig up the rest of the potatoes. It was an adventure. Exciting to find these big tubers glowing in the partly frozen ground under mounds of hay mulch. The varieties are Katahdin (white), Adirondack Blue and Adirondack Red. Maybe next season, less colors and more white. There’s something unnerving about finding red and blue colors in your food.
Potatoes for the new year
These are now drying on a table inside under cardboard. Then they will go into cold storage in the pantry.
And then for good measure, we dug up a patch of very dirty leeks. I did not want to do this, but Sam forged ahead. I didn’t think there would be anything salvageable, but after a few slimy layers were scraped off, there was another bunch of perfectly good leeks for the fridge.
Leeks in a five-gallon bucket, before washing and cleaning
“Keepers”: Adirondack Red, Caribou(russet), and Katahdin or KennebecFingerlings: French, Magic Molly (purple) and Amarosa (mottled rose inside)“Early” varieties: Satina, Blue Gold, Chieftain, Dark Red NorlandThe harvest
It all takes some work. The garlic needs to be cured, the fingerlings dug and soil sifted, the fava beans shelled, blanched, released from their waxy coat, and frozen. The peas shelled.
I pick over the blueberries to clean them a bit then freeze them in a single layer on a tray. When frozen, we transfer them to a freezer bag. We pick blueberries every morning. This morning, hit a record of forty ounces.
Making room in the garden for a fall planting, which should be done – now!
Fingerlings Fava bean pods and their contentsPodful
I had never heard of this distinction. But it seems pretty important because determinate potatoes are not worth hilling. They do benefit from mulch to keep the sun off tubers that form close to the surface.
So in the interest of this year being our big potato year (as well as our big tomato year, and a big year for a lot of other things), I worked on the potatoes as shown:
Bed 1
“Keepers.” Late varieties, but it turns out they are mostly determinate. Mulched them with straw waste from the chicken coop, mounded up good. Includes from bottom: Adirondack Red, Caribou, Elba? (Elba may be indeterminate, this is not an exact science!)
Bed 2
“Keepers,” continued. Sam built a frame of old boards screwed together. I piled it full of leaf mulch + reclaimed soil, then a light layer of hay. We expect to get extra tubers from the Katahdin planted in there, which specified “hill well” on the packaging. There are also some Kennebec at the top which are determinate (oh well).
Bed 3
New raised bed for “Early” varieties. They are growing tall and somewhat floppy but according to the article, they are determinate varieties. Blue Gold, Chieftain, Dark Red Norland, and Satina. They received a heavy application of hay mulch. They’re so tall you can hardly tell.
Bed 4
Fingerlings. Some of these were frost bitten on June 1, but recovered well. French Fingerlings, Magic Molly, and Amarosa. The Amarosa may be indeterminate? Not sure that makes sense. I treated them all the same with a light application of hay mulch.
No flowers yet. No sign of potato beetle either. I’m expecting a huge infestation like we had last year. Stay tuned.
Three locations of potatoes planted. One raised bed for fingerlings, a larger new bed for early varieties, and a garden row for later varieties (“keepers”).
Early varieties in new raised bed (smaller fingerling bed in background)Garden row preppedGarden row planting in progress
And a bonus photo of Sam sifting manure in the solar-powered trommel:
I knew I overordered potatoes from Fedco. Now they are here and we have to deal with it.
Magic Molly and French FingerlingClassic Keepers selectionSpecialty Organic selection
And I learned this morning that the community garden is discouraging the planting of potatoes this year due to a potato beetle infestation last year.
So two things: offer extra potatoes to family friends and get Sam to make another raised bed at home.
Drilling slabs together at cornerThe new raised bed in progress
The new bed will be a modified hugelkultur mound. It has sides made from old slab wood, but will be filled with an initial layer of wood, then partly decomposed wood chips from previous years’ garden paths, then soil.
Revamping paths – Separating chips from “soil” with the trommel Screening existing soil from bed to remove rocks and roots
This new bed will have the “early” varieties. Another bed will have fingerlings. And a garden row will have the later varieties. Extras will be sent to other garden homes. Potato beetles will be dealt with this year before they get ahead of us!
Is it still mid-August? A lot has happened. We harvested the fava beans on August 11. Had a big party, the third annual, to shuck the beans. I have three small freezer bags of leftovers, which is good. I didn’t take any pictures, unfortunately.
We have picked over 20 pounds of blueberries, all in the orchard except for two containers harvested atop Schoodic. I know that should be quarts, next year I’ll switch to the more typical measurement.
Blueberries in orchard
We are still waiting for the Reliance peaches to ripen. Last year they were all taken, probably by squirrels. This year we took more precautions (netting around the trunk). Sam propped up the heavy branches. They have great color, but are still quite hard.
Peach tree with branches propped
Reliance peaches ripening
Sam’s working on improving the orchard fencing. Too many deer are getting in there.
Orchard fence improvements
He also added two more raised beds in the hoophouse. Over the next few days I’ll plant some fall and winter greens in them. The peppers and eggplants in the older beds are growing but not exuberantly, but the basil in there is doing great. We had to protect those beds from deer who came to munch one variety of pepper when we opened the roof to the sun and rain.
Hoophouse with two new raised beds
I’m picking green beans almost daily in the main garden. Also sowed some fall seeds in empty spots.
Seedling carrots
Newly planted lettuces framed by Bianca’s white runner bean
The fava bean area freed up, so we put up a pea trellis there. Also planted cilantro, broccoli rabe, and spinach in that area.
Newly planted fava bean area
Harvesting lots of food: beets, cucumbers, a few ripe tomatoes, lettuce, escarole, radicchio, carrots, costata romanesca zucchini, kale, chard, dill, artichokes, broccoli, Savoy cabbage, fingerlings, strawberries, blackberries. Coming along: squashes, a few ears of corn, cabbage, soybeans, pattypan squash, lots of tomatoes!
Soon we’ll need to eat a couple of the artichokes.
Other news: More lettuce than we know what to do with. A few peas, a few baby cucumbers, squash blossoms, a few handfuls of blueberries, a few tart cherries. Harvested some fingerling potatoes due to potato beetle infestation.
Flower row with garlic bed beyond. Mostly poppies and daisies at this time, but sunflowers coming.
Three sisters row. Corn (a few stalks), squash, green beans. A few volunteer potatoes. Horseradish at one end and comfrey at the other.
Broccoli (Aspabroc and DeCicco). Started under row cover. Vulnerable to porcupines! Saved by electric fence, now harvesting. Some cabbage, I think.
Fava bean row, plus some Dazzling Blue Kale and volunteer wild arugula from last year.
Parsnips, first and second year. Turnips. Beets. And a patch of broccoli rabe bolting. Will replace with some carrots.
Mixed greens row. Chard, radicchio, ruby red orach, Salanova lettuce, escarole, some volunteer dill, baby Turkish rocket, and some room for succession planting.
Soybeans just flowering, fingerling potatoes, carrots. Artichoke at the end of this row and three others.
Tomato row. Plus one marigold at the top.
Fence row – scarlet runner beans (not shown), rudbeckia perennial, zucchini, patty pan squash, Hopi black sunflowers, Chinese cabbage.
Lettuces under the corner trellis. Also visible – a few cucumbers starting to climb.
Every year I order seed potatoes from Wood Prairie Farm. I could probably get them cheaper, but these are very high quality seed potatoes and I like to support this very pro-organic family-owned company, located way out in Bridgewater, Maine.
