Unexpected Harvest

Every year I plant a garden.  I always put in some of the tried and true plants - the ones I know I can grow successfully.  And most years, I try an experiment of some kind.  This year I tried container gardening.  For the most part, it was a dismal failure.  Probably my fault, but whatever, it didn't work.

One thing I tried was to grow potatoes in burlap sacks.  It seemed reasonable at the time.  To grow potatoes, you have to start the seed potatoes in a trench and gradually mound up the dirt as the vines grow.  The new potatoes form along the stems and need to be kept underground so they don't turn green in the light and become poisonous.  Burlap sacks can be topped off with fresh dirt, making this a perfectly good idea.

Well, the roots grew out of the lower part of the sacks and the vines didn't look as healthy as I had hoped.  I finally planted them, sacks and all, in the ground as a last ditch effort. "Ditch", get it?  The vines died and rotted.  I finally pulled up everything I could see, dumped the dirt and tossed it all in the trash.  A valuable lesson - don't do it that way ever again.  lol

Another one of my experiments was to plant a small herb inside the rotted stump of a tree.  Maybe that would have been a good idea, except the plant does better in partial shade and this stump was in broad daylight.  It was hard to keep the soil moist enough for the poor little thing to thrive.

After watching my herb choke and gasp for a couple of weeks, I decided I'd better put it in the ground alongside the rest of my former container experiments.  The best place to put it was in the spot where I used to have the potato sacks.  So I grabbed my garden gloves and my trowel and went back to do a little transplanting. 

Lo and behold, I struck potato!!!  The baby potatoes didn't die when the stems were pulled.  I rooted around to find all the potatoes and came away with a little more than I put into it. 

I gave up on one plant and, in trying to save another, I found that the first one had borne fruit after all.  There's a sermon in there somewhere.

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi

Potted Crops

The last couple of years have been difficult for gardening.  Last year, it quit raining in June and, even with daily watering, the crops sort of withered and died by the end of July.  I have to admit that it was wonderful not to have to pull weeds for the entire season, but I also didn't get the excellent home-grown veggies that make the whole process worth it.

This year I studied up on container gardening.  Crops in Pots and You Grow, Girl were my favorite books on the subject.  I carefully started heirloom tomatoes and several other kinds of seed in egg cartons.  They all made it to the big pot stage.  But the rain never quit and it was cloudy and coolish for a long time.  Nothing grew with a bang.  The plants all just crept along. 

Lately, in between downpours and vicious storms, we've had enough heat that I expected my "babies" to grow.  Still nothing spectacular.  Finally, I decided to dig them into the garden.  Either it will kill them or they will grow better.  This morning, most of my container garden became regular garden.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

As I was working a shovel gently under as much of the soil as possible so as to do the least damage to the roots, I realized that every pot was soaked.  The plants had all been standing in water.  Perhaps that had something to do with their general health.  I'm sure hoping for some home-grown tomatoes this year.

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi