In gardening news, I have tons of photos from the weekend, and wanted to show some random ones for this post. Anyway...here goes.
The last rain barrel that was contructed was no more than 20 feet from the main garden box, so I hooked a garden hose to the spigot and have been watering with it. It comes out pretty slow, but I have plenty of time to water - so, no big deal.
Photo below - I finally got the flowerbed out front planted with roses and shrubs, and it should all fill out nicely in a year or two. Some annual pruning will be needed, though - to keep everything in the 3'x3' area that was alotted for each.
Photo below - I just had to take this photo. It's a rare occasion for Jude to sit still for any length of time, and couldn't pass up the opportunity. She's so pretty......
Photo below - Ok....I've got alot to say about the next 2 photos. Although I get alot of UCG's from work, I really wanted to get my hands on some high quality grass clippings - and alot of it, to get this compost pile heated up. What I did, was drove thru the most "high-to-do" neighborhood I knew of during my lunch break one day, in search of some already bagged, weed - free turfgrass clippings. Oh my....the lawns really looked well kept, and probably cost more than our house! Boy, I felt like the neighborhood watch people would get me when I threw 2 really large bags of grass clippings in the back of my "not so pretty, completely out of place, big redneck pickup truck." Anyway, I hope they liked my heavy metal music as I left the scene....Ha! One bag was put into the pile of leaves, and turned over a few times. In the second photo, you can see the other bag of clippings, and also 11lbs of UCG's in the black bag. We're set now! Woo Doggie!
Photo below - I just had to pull the red potatoes out of the earthtainer scrap planters, because I have sweet potatoes to plant, dangit! Hee Hee..Pretty impressive, ain't it? All 4.4 lbs. of them...Oh well...maybe we can make tater tots with 'em. Ha!
Photo below - I started making my own slips from a store-bought sweet potato around the middle of March, and these little things were almost ready for planting.
Photo below - a few days with their feet soaking in this little bowl of water should make them produce their own roots, and then they'll be planted. I'm hoping they'll be ready to harvest in September.
I'll try to get another post in when I get the chance, but in the meantime - Take care, and happy gardening!
EG
17 comments:
Glad you're back and blogging. If you keep that sweet potato in the cup with water you'll get a ton of slips.
Now, on to more important things. What in the world is that just left of the bowl with the slips in it?
Well there you are! I hope you enjoyed your weekend. That garden of yours is really rockin 'n rollin. Potatoes already!
Cheryl - That is the head of an upside-down rubber chicken. Ha. I didn't even notice it in the picture.
Maureen - Glad you stopped by! Thanks...
I'd be ecstatic to harvest those potatoes, how nice to have fresh spuds already. They look great!
Small new red potatoes are the best!
Your dog is beautiful. And your raised border looks great.
Dan - thanks, dude! I'll try those taters out in a few days.
Sande - Thank you very much.
GREAT post EG.
First thing I noticed was the red pickup truck in the pic before you mentioned it. I was very happy to see you have a pick-up truck and not a 2-door sports car. All is well in the world if EG has a truck.
The next thing I noticed was the odd flesh-colored "thing" next to the slips that I found out from your comments is a rubber dead chicken. I'll make sure my chickens don't catch wind of that.
I'm jealous of your sweet potato slips. Both of my sweet potato slip-makin' taters died and the few slips I got died in the little tray of water. Maybe having the rubber chicken nearby is good luck.
Great pic of Jude, by the way... She looks like an calm little angel in that pic. My how pictures can be deceiving huh?
So, I have been following the blog for a while. I am running a small potato "experiment" in my garden. But I have ZERO experience. Actaully, I posted in the blog that you and Annie's Granny were where I got my info on potatos.
Ok so the question is, When do I know when to harvest the potatoes?
Here is a picture of my potato experiment... http://suburbangarden.webs.com/apps/blog/
Not a bad harvest. I'm hoping for something from my yukon golds in bed #4. Your reds look awesome.
Oh, and I had no idea sweet potatoes were propogated that way. Great work, they look awesome, and from a storebought too. Nice!
So glad you had a nice time off. I am also glad you got a rain barrel hoes to work. I hope to do that myself right inside my garden!
EG,
Glad to see you back and rested. Did your potatoes flower before you pulled them? My harvest date is about a week away and I have no blooms. I'm hoping I have as many taters as you.
Liisa
Hi EG! Glad to see you back :-) Missed your blog posts.
I don't know about you, but we've had so much rain! We could have filled several (or all) of the barrels that we have. I really need to add "build a rain barrel" to my list of things to do. We will be using your instructions for this :-)
That is so funny about driving around and getting lawn clippings :-) I completely agree -- why let them go to waste, right?
I have some sweet potatoes that are sending out vines (I have them in water). I'm just not sure of what I'm going to do with them though LOL They need so much room to grow. Last year they just about took over my garden. Where are you going to plan yours? I wish there was a sweet potato bin that we could build LOL
Kate - I've owned a pickup truck since the age of 17, because cars just don't do it for me. I'm really sorry about your slips not working out for you. Maybe next time will be better..Oh yes....Jude is a little stinker 99.9% of the time!
Eric - I'm no expert on potatoes, and got my information about them from Granny, Sinfonian, and John. They take a long time to mature, and should flower - then die. That's when they're ready to dig up.
Sinfonian - I was hoping for bigger potatoes, but just ran out of time. Thankfully, though - the whites will be able to grow as long as needed.
Liisa - no, they didn't flower. They probably needed another 4-6 weeks.
Judy - We're still getting rain about every other day. Thankfully, no more is forecast for several days. I'm gonna plant my sweet potatoes where the reds were. (even though it's not suggested). It's my only option....
EG,
Thanks for the warm welcome. I found you while searching for trellises (imagine that) in raised beds. I love your blog! Thank you for sharing so much so well.
I'm in north central Ohio, so I'm jealous of your early crops. I've just started with raised beds, although I'm a farm girl who's been gardening since I was old enough to weed. I didn't realize that I was already doing square-foot gardening until I searched for a way to get a good harvest from melons in a small space. I'm glad to know that I'm on the right track.
Thanks again, and I look forward to your future garden adventures.
Princess Jenni - Oh yeah....trellises and vertical gardening are the emphasis of my garden. Thanks for the kind words!
I don't collect lawn clippings, but in the fall I do trawl for leaves. If they look at me from their houses they must think I'm crazy. I open up the bags and see what is in them before dragging them away. I don't want a bag full of sticks or pine needles, so I make sure it has the leaves that I want.
I am so glad that I came across your blog. I was wondering how to grow sweet potatoes. Never really understood what people were telling me. Now I do. I think my time to plant these is coming up.
Daphne - I'll be looking in the bags I get from now on, because there was all kinds of crap in them!
Cynthia - Gee...thanks! Growing your own slips is very easy...
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