Thursday, September 4, 2008

Gophers in bed 12

Cas found evidence that gophers have found bed 12.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Potatoes

I was at the garden earlier this afternoon (Loretta and I stopped by to water the salad mix direct sown seeds in Bed 6) and also noticed flowers on the potatoes...more specifically, the Desiree potatoes.

In my own backyard experiments I have tried a dozen or so potato varieties and Desiree has consistently out-yielded the others (well, Rose Finn and All Blue are also high yielders).  I typically get yields of 2.5 - 4 lbs per Desiree plant versus 1 - 2.5 lbs for the other kinds (Yukon gold, etc.).

So it's very interesting for me to see the Desiree plants about twice as big as the yukon gold plants that are in the same bed, as well as the other potato plants in the other beds. And that the Desriee's are also flowering first.  When we harvest it will be interesting to watch the yields.

Luckily, the Desiree is a tasy variety and easy to grow. Ronnigers catalog describes it as:

The most popular “red” potato in Europe. Round to oblong tubers, satin-like pinkish/red skin and gourmet quality creamy-yellow flesh. Prolific yields of excellent all-around cooking potatoes. Very resistant to common diseases. An easy and very reliable gourmet potato to grow.

Cleared Failed Crops

Per Loretta's instructions from the Saturday workday, went by the garden this morning (Wed) and removed the insect eaten purple bush beans in the west fence/sunflower bed. Got 14 oz of edible beans from the plants. Also removed most of the failed pumpkin vines in the north fence /sunflower bed. I left 3 plants as they had viable fruit on them.
Potatoes are starting to flower.
Ann

Monday, September 1, 2008

Fava Harvest

The last of the favas got harvested today.
25.5 lbs today... a total of 49.25 lbs from bed 9

First Section of Herb/Natives Mandala planted!

This past weekend (Saturday), Dina and friends planted the first section M1, of the Mandala with medicinal herbs. After lots of digging and cover cropping, it's finally starting to take form.