One potato, two potato, three potato, four

I always hope for some strange shaped potatoes.

One potato, two potato, three potato, four,
five potato, six potato, seven potato more.
Icha bacha, soda cracker,
Icha bacha boo.
Icha bacha, soda cracker, out goes Y-O-U!

I don't remember the... "icha bacha" part of this chant.
 
Potatoes have been cultivated for food for more than 2,000 years. In South America — Peru's Inca Indians, it is believed, had cultivated potatoes by 3000 B.C. per a google search.

My potato bin.

   
Potatoes are very easy to grow. You can grow them under straw, in 5 gallon buckets, in a wooden bin or in the ground. I've grown potatoes all these ways. My potatoes are currently grown in a wooden bin. I read somewhere, maybe Mother Earth magazine, that when the plant above the ground falls over — the potatoes will stop growing. My husband built us a potato bin, out of recycled boards.

Our neighbor's small deck was rotting away...one day his wife fell threw the deck. I guess she was laying on the ground swearing...can't blame her. He ripped the old deck apart, threw the boards on his burn pile and then got a divorce. I kept looking at the boards...finally asked if my husband could build a tater bin. This bin is 4 feet by 4 feet and maybe 4 feet tall. All four sides are attached with screws. One side is attached with nails. That way I can take my rusty hammer and each of the front board come off to dig the taters in the fall.

What kind of potatoes should you grow? Depends on what you're using them in.  If you want to add potatoes to soups or stews you should use yellow, blue or red potatoes. These are low in starch, when boiling, they will not fall apart. If you want to bake, then you should use potatoes with a dry texture like the Yukon Gold type. I planted Yukon's, Cal Red, Cal Whites, Finns and some sort of pretty blue ones.

Red, white, yellow and blue potatoes.

My potatoes go in the ground in late April or early May. Add about 2 inches of soil to cover the potatoes. As the the potato develops the plant above and the leaves show through the soil, add more soil to cover again.... repeat. Harvest potatoes when the tops have withered in the fall.

Ready to dig those potatoes.

When you dig your potatoes, don't clean them off. Gather them and let them dry on newspaper in a dark place. I have an old chicken house that I cleaned up and painted to make it my potting shed. This is where I dry mine for a few days.

Drying potatoes.

I store my potatoes in cardboard boxes with lids. Put newspaper on the bottom, add as many potatoes as you can without letting them touch each other. Add another layer of newspaper and more taters...etc. Then I put the boxes in our shop, which is not heated. If there are any potatoes left over in the spring, I use them for seed potatoes and plant them in the spring.

Box for storing potatoes.

Putting them taters in a box.

Potatoes are a member of the nightshade family and leaves are poisonous. Potatoes should be stored in dark, but dry places. Light will cause the formation of solanine on the skin of the potato. Not likely to cause serious harm, green skinned potatoes can taste bitter and could give you a stomachache.

Potato berries.

I found small, round, green, tomato-like fruit on my potato plants. These fruit are not the result of cross-pollination with tomatoes. They are the true fruit of the potato plant. The edible tubers are actually enlarged, underground stems. Normally, most potato flowers dry up and fall off the plants without setting fruit. A few flowers do produce fruit. The variety 'Yukon Gold' produces fruit more heavily than most varieties. You might likely get a hybrid from these potatoes, from cross pollination with other potatoes. But I wouldn't eat the berries, may have a high concentration of solanine.

I think I'll go make a potato salad with blue potatoes.
You should try growing some potatoes too.

You say tomato...

You say tomato, I say tomahto

Who actually ever says, tomahto?
In 1863, a popular seed catalogue listed 23 tomato cultivars, among which was Trophy, the first modern-looking large, red, smooth-skinned variety which fetched 5 dollars for a packet of 20 seeds! Based on inflation today, that would be about $86 for the seed packet!

Here are some interesting tidbits about tomatoes:

Superstition once had it that placing ripe tomatoes on a mantel when first entering a new dwelling would guarantee future prosperity or will ward off evil spirits.
Pincushions the color and shape of ripe tomatoes were used instead if ripe tomatoes were not available. To this day, pincushions are most often red. Who knew?
Americans may be in love with tomatoes today, but the relationship got off to a rocky start. During Colonial Times, we wouldn't put a tomato near our mouths, let alone try to eat one. Folklore had it that if you ate a tomato, its poison would turn your blood into acid. Instead, the colonists grew tomatoes purely for decoration.


This year my first red tomato was a Stupice on July 7...and we are still getting tomatoes.

Best way to grow RED or Ripe tomatoes in and around Montesano is in a greenhouse.

This is my greenhouse. It's only 8 feet by 8 feet. This year my husband put on a new corrugated plastic roof. I don't even bother starting my own tomatoes from seed anymore. Rather than being stuck with a ton of seedlings, that you have to repot. This way you can choose different varieties to grow and always try a new kind each year. I buy them already grown, 1 - 2 feet tall. Volunteer tomatoes do pop up and grow everywhere from the year before.

In the greenhouse you might want to grow kinds of tomatoes that are parthenocarpic, (pär th -n -kär p) – The production of fruit without fertilization. Or just go in the greenhouse and start touching the blossoms and repeat. It's nice to have a fan in the greenhouse to help others pollinate, but my fan broke earlier this spring and just never replaced it. I've caught bees and put them in there, but they don't like being forced in. I also just prop open the door. There are nine tomato plants growing in the greenhouse. A couple are the same variety. I was ONLY going to plant like 6. But when I got to Windmill Farms, I just couldn't help myself...and planted 8 more tomato plants outside in my garden. Built them a cloche...they're not as easy to tend to...you have to bend over, squat and look for spiders.

Outside you can make a cloche out of PVC pipes and cover it with clear plastic. I do use the red plastic mulch that you put down on the soil around the tomato plants. I bought my red plastic from Territorial Seeds. Greenhouse grown tomatoes are just way earlier, look beautiful and taste wonderful. 


These are some of the tomatoes this year:

Stupice, early cold tolerant 2 to 3-inch, first tomato. indeterminate, (means the plant keeps growing tall), 52 days photo above

Legend, 68 days, tolerant to blight, early slicing tomato, 4 to 5-inch, determinate, parthenocarpic

Big Beef, 9 oz. to 1 pound, huge, slices fit on a BLT sandwich just right.

Chocolate Cherry, 70 days. indeterminate, sweet fruit, grows on trusses of 1 to 1 3/4 inch fruit, crack resistant. I really liked this tomato for a larger cherry type.

Super Marzano, is a roma-type, 70 days, indeterminate, pear shaped fruit, about 5 inches long. Roma's have more pectin than other types. That's why they are used for making tomato type sauces, and Romas don't have many seeds or much juice.

Fraiser's Gem, 80 days, determinate, 3 inch fruit

Sun Gold, 65 days, sweet, apricot-orange color, 1 1/4 inches across, trusses, indeterminate, these look so pretty in a salad.

Cherry Buzz, early 55 days, indeterminate, bite-sized 1/2 - 3/4 inch red, sweet.




Siletz, 70 days, 4 to 5 inch fruit, about 7-10 oz, very early and parthenocarpic. Couldn't find my photo of this one. Sorry.

Have been eating a lot of tomatoes. Tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, basil with a small amount of cooked pasta and olives too. Mix all together and pour Italian dressing over.
Simple salsa: tomatoes, onions, garlic, green peppers, lime juice, salt and pepper — dice everything up. Add diced jalapeno to make as mild or hot as you like it.

If I was going to grow one vegetable...tomatoes would be it. Store bought tomatoes never taste as sweet as home grown ones.

Jack and the bean stalk

“A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.” Hannibal Lecter’s quote in the Silence of the Lambs movie.

According to a google search, fava beans are one of the oldests cultivated plants. Dating back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Also called broad beans, pigeon beans, horse beans and Windsor beans. I always try to plant something unusual every year. Did have a problem with black aphids attacking the favas, but I used a safer organic insecticide and it worked. Did have to fight slugs when the plants were sprouting.

Growing: Fava beans can with stand temperatures down to 15 degrees, I planted in early April. The seeds are almost as big as a quarter. You would think favas could be the bean Jack planted to grow the Bean Stalk. The plants grow between 4 - 5 feet tall. They do need to be staked, as the pods get to heavy and pull the stalk down. The pods grow erect up the stalk and when ready are between 7 to 8 inches long. When the beans point down they are ready to pick.

Harvesting: Fava beans are a little bit labor intensive. Pull the pods off like a green bean or a pea. Open the pod up by pulling on the blossom end. 

Inside you will find beans that resemble lima beans. The inside of the pod is white and fluffy. Remove the beans from the pod. Bring a sauce pan half full of water to boil. Add the beans, cook about two minutes. 

Drain and rinse immediately with cold water to stop the cooking. Now take off their tiny raincoats. Favas have a rubber looking shell that is tough and has to be pinched off. Pinch each bean on the opposite side were it was attached to the pod.

Cooking: I sautéed favas in onions/garlic in a little butter, then add the beans and stir only about 5 minutes. Serve immediately. Favas are also good in stews, add 10 minutes before serving.

I fixed favas with dinner the other night. I could see my husband eating the beans real slow, like a little kid eating a nasty vegetable. Asked him how favas compare to Brussels sprouts (his least loved vegetable), he said he liked them the same as Brussels sprouts, not a fan.

worn out zucchinis

Who takes a week off from work just to work in the garden and putter around the yard? Me.

I live with my handsome husband and a tuxedo cat on five acres in rural Montesano. I tend to a very large garden, four blueberry bushes, raspberry patch, two disappointing apple trees, and a small greenhouse that has seen better days, it currently has strips of duct tape in various places.

There’s always something to do outside. Watering, harvesting, planting or pulling weeds. Seems like in week I could have gotten a lot done. Nope.

Monday I watered and weeded some and just puttered.

Tuesday I went up to visit my son in Des Moines, which involved walking around Seattle and such. Great fun. We even rode The Duck tour.

I noticed on my son’s patio, there were 6 tomato plants, 1 pepper and some peas growing in pots. Reminds me when I asked my son to help me weed our large garden when he was in high school. He wasn’t wanting to help with the weeding and he assured me that his future wife would not have a garden. Interesting how things change. He’s even excited about me bringing him and his wife fresh veggies from our garden. The next day I was pretty tired from the trip. Didn’t get much gardening done outside, kept on watching the food channel or yard crashers.

Thursday I picked up our two granddaughters, ages 7 and 3. After a trip to McDonald’s and to the Salvation Army for some shopping, they were getting antsy to get to the house to see the garden and play.

Boy, you have to keep both eyes on young children all the time. Lucky, I saw a bobcat recently and told them I wasn’t sure if bobcats get people or not. So the unknown did keep them from running off unsupervised.

We grabbed our bowls and went out to pick blueberries. We all learned to only pick the blue ones. But do you know how hard a 3 year old can throw a blueberry in the bowl? Hard. Most of them bounced out. Soon we were done.

Next stop, picking peas. “Now hold the pea vine in one had and pull the pea off carefully,” I said. Three year olds don’t really like to hold the vine, they prefer to grab the pea by itself and just pull the whole vine real hard… Well we did get enough peas for dinner.

Giant zucchini. Both girls definitely had to pick a zucchini. They decided that was enough gardening for now. Later they drew faces on the zucchinis, poked barrettes in the sides, wrapped them in blankets, wheeled them around in a stroller and dropped them on the floor. It was a long day. Bless their hearts.

The girls had never slept outside before. Silly me says, “hey how would you like to sleep in a tent”? They were all excited about it. Got the tent up, sleeping bags, pillows and out we went in to the night. We were suppose to be listening for the bobcat — we could hear a dog barking and birds chirping — the girls were screaming and yelling each time they heard a noise. Then I heard myself yell at them for screaming and yelling! I guess my parenting skills are a little rusted. Reminds me of an episode on “That 70s Show” when Kitty asked Red where he got his rough parenting skills — Red replies, “In Ko-Reea”. Anyways both girls were  sleeping within ten minutes.

The next day I was kind of tired, again. Not much gardening got done. I did send the worn out zucchinis home with the girls.