kinderGARDENS Update: Week 17

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!

Will the real Irish Gardeners please stand up?!

Today was potato day! With names like my family has, I was afraid to be downright embarrassed if I came up empty handed, so you can imagine my delight when we discovered there was indeed actual potatoes growing in my experimental potato-straw cages! (Although remember when my husband torched my potato cages? This was going to be my excuse if we came up empty handed today :))

Here is a photo taken before we started. I have 3 potato cages filled with straw. The vines died back a couple of weeks ago on the two cages on the left. The one on the right is still green so Sailor/Farmer/Husband will be home to experience the fun when that one is ready.

Everything else went pretty much as the way I had planned. In theory, I would simply lift the chicken wire off, and the straw would spill out revealing the potatoes. It actually worked! I wasn't even sure what to expect as far as yield since this is the first time I have grown potatoes, but I decided I would be happy if I got at least a couple of dinners worth.

Here are the kids sifting through the straw. Along with potatoes they found 1 slug, 2 toads, and a couple of worms. Nothing too scary was in there! (I have to admit I was a little freaked at what might be living in there due to the air pockets in the straw and close proximity to the compost piles!)

The yield: 4.03 lbs Rose Finn Fingerling Potatoes!

I know my husband will be reading this from afar and wondering if he won't get to taste them - don't worry...there is one more potato cage waiting just for you! I plan on steaming or boiling a few tonight with a little butter, salt & pepper and fresh parsley, yum!

Not so impressive: below are the raspberries I found after I ripped the squash vines off my berry patch!

I did get a little bit accomplished today besides the potatoes so it was a good day. Although the humidity was 80 some percent, the temps stayed in the 80's and the sun stayed behind the clouds, so I was able to rip out my strawberry bed before the thunderstorms chased me inside and now I have 2 empty raised beds! (My area is known for all types of berries, so I will leave future strawberries up to the pick-your-own farms, since they take up so much space all year for a small harvest window). Oh, the possibilities of empty beds....you gardeners know what I am talking about! I can't wait to sit down with my seeds and catalogs and plan for the next season. A planning session and fresh ideas are just what I need to lift my spirits during this oppressive heat wave.

Tomorrow morning starts with a date with friends to pick blueberries at the farm. Gotta love blueberries, they are so easy! Pick, eat, freeze whole. SIMPLE!