Week 17, the summer is flying by!
Better late than NEVER, which is what I thought had happened here. Remember the limp leaves on the green roof? Well here they are, same leaves, recovered and now climbing. Note how they have only grown about a foot in 17 weeks?????
And just look - a mini pumpkin developing on the green roof!
The seeds the kids sowed last week have sprouted and now we have the promise of a new season in the garden!
Next up: another of the kids' favorite garden activities... digging potatoes!
While this didn't happen this week, it does involve the kids digging the much anticipated potato cages. Suffice it to say they were very disappointing this year, so traumatic was the experience for me that I am just now able to talk about it LOL! Due to my fantastic results last year, I really had tried to convince many people to do the potatoes in straw cages this year... I'm Sorry! I don't know what the difference was this year, but the yield was horrible:
Total Potato Harvest
Rose Finn Fingerlings - didn't even weigh, one plate's worth!
Red Pontiac - 3 lbs
Red Norland - 3 lbs
ugh!
Too bad my butt serves as the opening frame of this video, here is the way "things are supposed to work" in the cage system. It really is easy to harvest them this way, that is, if there were potatoes to harvest!
He was so excited!
Poor Finn searching for his non-existent Finn potatoes! The few we found are in the front of his little wagon.
Rose Finn Fingerlings, kids call them airplane potatoes because the usually have wings! This is how I first got my kids to eat potatoes.
Red Pontiac harvest. The Red Norlands are not pictured since I waited an extra few weeks on them, but they look the same as this, same yield, although the potatoes in general appeared to withstand heat better and skins were stronger than the Red Pontiacs.
Go to The Inadvertent Farmer to see what other kinderGARDENS contest participants are doing this week! She has a guest author this week who writes about using a Praying Mantis nest as a way to get older kids involved in the garden!
That is too bad Erin. I had a very disappointing harvest last year so I feel your pain. Still not sure of the end result for our potatoes yet.
ReplyDeleteAw, shucks! That is such a disappointment when your potatoes were so much better last year. It's gotta have something to do with this whacky weather this year.
ReplyDeleteOur potato plants look lots better than they did last year when I had trouble with blight on my red taters. We leave ours in the ground as long as we can so our root cellar (where they'll be stored) has a chance to cool off as much as possible. 'Course, that means we're harvesting when it numbs our hands, but it's for the best.
The potato cages look very interesting. I haven't ever seen anything like it before. I bet it makes the digging easier. Sorry the crop was disappointing. I am happy that the planter box rebounded though. Baby pumpkins and gourds just tickle me pink! Now if I could get just one of my own I'd be so happy!
ReplyDeleteAww! So disapointing when that happens! Last year our carrots were like that. They just didn't grow! At the very end of the season, just before the ground froze they were about 2 inches long. Nothing bigger than my pinky! Bummer for Finn, too! He is just such a handsome boy! Can I pinch his cheeks and ruffle his hair? :) My boy's 10. He thinks he's getting too big for that most of the time.
ReplyDeleteI had a really disappointing potato harvest as well. I am thinking it was because of the heat, but I don't know. We got very few potatoes. Such a bummer, all the nursing of the plants for a couple of pounds.
ReplyDelete'm not sure how my potatoes are doing either this year. Most of mine didn't have flowers. I was told that it's okay if they don't flower they still produce and even more so because the energy of the plant goes to the potato instead of the flower. Well, I'll let you know if it worked that way in a couple weeks.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the potato condolences, everyone! The cage/straw method is so easy.... WHEN IT WORKS LOL! There's always next year, I guess. It was so hot and humid here I wonder if that had anything to do with it, I had oodles of marble size tubers on there, just a few decent size though. I can't let the marble size ones sit, they won't get any bigger this time of year, just rot when it's triple digits every day!
ReplyDeleteYeah we have green leaves growing again!
ReplyDeleteOne of my kids' favorite things in the world is to dig potatoes, love the two videos.
Great job! Kim
That's what my bin growing experience was like. But digging them out of the bed has been big fun this year. He's awfully cute.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear about your potatoes. The potato cages are really great. It can make my digging easier. I just hope that this could not affect the growth of my potatoes. I try to plant some potatoes that way. Thanks for letting us know.
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