Last of the potatoes

Posted by louisa on Saturday 10 September 2011 in growing | 6 comments

(Like Last of the Mohicans, except starchier.)

After expressing my meh-ness the other day, I actually had a productive few hours in the garden today. It’s John’s fault – after carrying down some chicken food for me, he stayed in the garden tidying some stuff at the bottom and I felt kinda guilted into staying out there too. I did a little weeding but then prioritised stuff that needed harvesting, namely the titular potatoes, some tomatoes & a gorgeous courgette. Some of said potatoes:

As I said a few weeks ago on Twitter, I don’t think I’ll grow potatoes next year. I’m restricted to growing them in containers at the moment and while it does have some advantages (diseases are contained and no digging!), it has plenty of disadvantages too. Most importantly, they use up a lot of soil and I don’t have access to a lot of soil at the moment, so to grow them means there is less soil/compost to go around everything else (or at least I have to buy it in – and it’s too expensive to buy in to use on potatoes). Growing them in containers also means they need more watering than they do in the ground, which isn’t terrible, just another job to do. Being in containers does, well, contain them a bit too: they don’t really get to stretch out to full capacity so the harvest isn’t as bountiful, either in number or size, as it would be in the ground. And of course, there is the diseased Satan gonad issue.

But the most important thing really is that we don’t eat a lot of potatoes – we cook with them no more than once a week, probably closer to once a fortnight. This last week we’ve not been eating wheat so our usual pasta/noodle/bread staples have been out but still, we’ve not actually eaten any potatoes (I was supposed to have jacket potato on Wednesday but had leftover risotto instead). If we were aiming to be completely self-sufficient then I suspect we’d eat more as it is easier to grow them than cereals but right now, we don’t need a whole lot of them and it seems a risk to grow a lot to use so gradually when we can buy the few we do want locally and/or organically ones for a frugal-friendly price. I’d rather use my limited soil and motivation/energy elsewhere.

Having said that, if we did have bed space for them, I’d probably be tempted to give them another go, or in a few years when I have more than enough homegrown compost to spare, I might try containers again. For future Louisa’s information, the Orla maincrop did well this year and have resulted in some good spuds, and the Charlotte-esque basic seed potatoes I got for next-to-nothing at Home Bargain also turned out well.

As for the other harvested stuff today: I collected just over a kilogram of tomatoes, mostly cherry tomatoes but a few big Romas too, for ripening inside since their home plant were looking worse for wear. Some are already orange-y but most are green; if they don’t seem to be getting with the ripening programme in a couple of days, I’ll turn them into Aurora’s chutney. There is probably about the same again out there and in dribs & drabs, we’ve (mostly John) has probably eaten about that so far. Three kilograms/six-and-a-half pounds isn’t a huge haul considering how much space they took up in my small greenhouse – some plants have been very productive but others not at all. John has *loved* the sweet cherry ones though, so I’ll definitely grow them again.

The courgette I picked was our first in our second wave of the squashes: we’ve had a few almost courgette-free weeks because I’ve been feeling meh so not picked the nutrient-hogging now-marrows from the plants, but there are lots of baby courgettes again now. The taste of summer still lingering on.

Have you been harvesting anything this weekend?

I might love my neighbours and broccoli but I hate squishy seed potatoes

Posted by louisa on Tuesday 26 July 2011 in growing | 8 comments

You know how seed potatoes go squishy and brown by the time you harvest your new potatoes?

Is it just me or is putting your hand into that BALL OF VILENESS, the vegetable equivalent of Satan’s diseased gonad, enough to put you off growing potatoes for life?

…

Just me?

Things I’m getting unduly over-excited about this week

Posted by louisa on Thursday 7 April 2011 in growing | 6 comments

1. The sunny weather
It’s just glorious out there.

2. The sunny-yet-windy weather meaning clothes line dry super quickly
I put out a load yesterday morning and another this morning – and both lots were dry by about lunchtime. Smashing!

3. All the green halos appearing on the trees
The sycamores started last week but the silver birches just yesterday – the leaf buds are at the ends of such spindly little branches that the buds look just like a green haze.

4. The elderflower buds are thinking about taking shape
I noticed this while having a cup of tea on the balcony earlier – the tree next to the house is budding up. Elderflowers fritters in a couple of weeks, yay!

5. That cup of tea on the balcony in the aforementioned glorious sunny weather
We generally have good tea but then perhaps, say, one in 20 cups of tea are just perfect. Perfect temperature, strength & sweetness. The sunshine & animals accompanying me at that time just added to it.

6. My previously floppy-leaved lettuces are pulling themselves into heads
I mentioned this on Twitter and ViksterBean said: “Isn’t it great when veg suddenly starts to look like veg, if you know what I mean?!” I do know what she means and it’s just jolly marvellous!

7. My first batch of tomato seedlings
I lost loads of baby tomatoes to the Great Damping Off Crisis of 2011 so I’m feeling very protective of the ones that made it through – and my babies are doing well.

8. The first early potatoes are starting to peek their heads through the first level of soil
Nearly time to level up! (Oh and to plant out the rest too.)

9. The fact we just had toasties for lunch
John and I both get over excited about toastie-maker toasties considering it’s just beans, cheese & crappy white bread (well, and peanut butter for him, and tabasco sauce for me). I think it’s a residual thing from childhood when we weren’t allowed them often because our mums considered it too much faff to clean the toastie maker afterwards (and cleaning it ourselves would be unthinkable). Today’s toasties were especially exciting as I had a nutella one as a lunch dessert. Mmm, vegetable oil.

10. Anticipation for 10pm on Saturday night
When our last performance comes to an end. Last year, my fellow tutor Karen and I were dancing/singing along backstage due to hysteria/relief on the last night of the show; this year, the hysterical/nervous dancing started last night, the final dress rehearsal. It’s the first performance tonight. I’m not on stage but I’m the stage manager so that means I have to make sure all 43 hyper teenagers are where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there. 10pm on Saturday night will be sweeeeeet.

Are you unduly excited about anything this week? What’s got you embarrassingly giddy?

Potatoes, seedlings, big bulldogs & have-a-go bullycats

Posted by louisa on Thursday 17 March 2011 in growing | 8 comments

I’ve been really careful, well, kinda careful this year to not overwhelm myself with seedlings.

It’s a bit of a balancing act, isn’t it? Ensuring that you sow enough to get adequate germination and to survive the tribulations of growing into seedlings, being transplanted and being put somewhere that ninja slugs might reach them (nevermind late frost snaps, being sat on by the dog or a myriad of diseases and other pests) – BUT not sowing too many that it’ll overwhelm your available resources (including time and space).

Last year, I accidentally grew way too many squash and nearly all the rest of my veggies suffered as a result – I’m keen not to make that mistake this year so have been cautious when it comes to buying and planting. Or at least I thought I had been – even though I’d resisted the cheap large bags of seed potatoes I’d seen, the small amount of seed potatoes I have bought are going to go further than I thought.

This afternoon I’ve planted out some Swift potatoes – which apparently provide small but very early spuds – and used up a third of my existing potato containers/bags — and I’ve still got another six varieties chitting and nearly ready to plant out. Admittedly I’ve only got a small amount of each variety but still, by my maths, I’ll need at least another eight to ten containers/bags for them all. It’s times like these that I really wish I had an allotment or at least beds that were deep enough/wide enough to warrant rows.

Any recommendations for potato-growing containers/bags or stuff to reuse for said containers?

I’ve also asked on Twitter for recommendations for topsoil and/or compost suppliers – we just don’t have any spare soil in this garden and our compost heaps aren’t pumping out enough of the brown stuff just yet. If anyone else has any suggestions around Leeds/Bradford or offering affordable delivery from elsewhere, I’d love to hear them :)

Aside from the potatoes, it’s all go in my seedling nurseries – I’ve got stuff that needs a warm environment (tomatoes, peppers, chillis, squash, cucumber) in the propagator, and stuff that doesn’t mind the cold (early lettuce, broad beans and after being reminded about them by Gillian, radishes) in the greenhouse. Lots and lots of green shoots popping up. But hopefully not too many of any one thing ;)

The jostaberry canes are planted out too – although that little job was interrupted by a big bulldog coming over to meet Lily-dog and Boron the old, toothless cat deciding he wanted to fight said big bulldog to prove his manliness or something. Thankfully the bulldog is good around cats so just tried to get out of the way of Boron’s swats but a scary few minutes for me all the same!

Things from yesterday and today

Posted by louisa on Tuesday 8 February 2011 in growing, meta | 3 comments

I started my potatoes chitting yesterday. Well, they’d already started chitting all by themselves but I took them out of their nets and put them in egg boxes. Now to remember which is which…

Today is the first time in about a week when it’s not been blowing a gale so I’m tempted to spend the afternoon away from my computer and sow some seeds. Weee!

I collected six eggs this morning – we usually get five max. Being realistic, I think it was probably just a late one from yesterday and today’s five – but one was a little small, so maybe Lime’s coming out of moult.

(Buff has yet to provide us with a single egg (she’ll lay white ones, the rest lay light to mid brown ones so it’ll be clear when she does get around to it) and is getting noisier. From what I’ve read, it’s not uncommon for Leghorns to be late starters, and I guess winter will exacerbate that, but I’m worried she thinks she is a boy – or actually is a boy. Nothing obvious yet but *paranoia*.)

Our meal planning made it to Day Two before failing completely. Yay us. There is a reason though – we had both completely forgotten that John’s attending a talk in Manchester tonight so not only will be out for dinner but will need more substance at lunchtime than soup will provide (he’s unlikely to be eating dinner until after 9pm). And also half his company came for lunch today either en route to the talk or just because there was mention of fish and chips and everyone loves fish and chips. I will probably still end up making the sausage & lentil casserole because the sausages will go off otherwise, but I’ll freeze tonight’s portion instead.

I made the spicy butternut squash soup before we realised the change of plans so I’ll have that for dinner tonight. I made approximately 3litres of it. I might freeze some of that too ;)

A book on vegetable-oil soap making that I’d been umming and aahing about buying for ages arrived this morning – can’t wait to give that a go.

Some embroidery fabric (bought on eBay) also arrived so I can start on my next big stitchery project. Going to wait until I’ve finished the blanket (which is now wide enough to keep me warm while I’m crocheting it :) ) rather than get distracted but I’m working on my pattern. It’s going to be an evolving piece actually – it’ll never be finished-finished – which makes planning interesting!

We shaved & bathed the dog last night. (Not a euphemism.) She feels like silky velvet at the moment and while it’s not a perfect job, it’s certainly passable. It would have cost us at least £45 if we’d paid someone else to do it. She slept through all the clipping and got an egg afterwards for being a good girl.

There has been a few clumps of small brown mushrooms growing on the garden steps (covered with wood chippings) recently and I picked one to identify yesterday. It looks very much like a Deceiver (Laccaria Laccata) but it seems far too late in the year/early in the next one to be those. I will keep looking through my books to see what else it might be but any other suggestions would be gratefully received :)

What have you guys been up to?