The Garden

These are Viking Red Potatoes.

I dug a few tonight.  Aren't they pretty?!?

I started growing potatoes a couple of years ago.  I love having them in my garden.  This is a new variety though and I'm excited to try them out.  They look very pretty and I think the insides are milky white.  I've also planted some fingerlings, some yellow and some different red potatoes.  They taste completely different from potatoes one buys in the store.  This year I planted 3 raised beds of potatoes and a couple of large containers.  We'll see how they come out.

The garden is prolific this year.  I can't keep up with the beans.  I've given beans to everyone that comes near me.  Today I resurrected my canning skills and "did" up a huge batch of green beans.  The beets are magnificent this year too.  I'm going to try to store some in the basement for the winter.  And hopefully, I be able to make a trip down to NYC to share the produce with my boys.  The kale is still producing, but I've pulled the buttercrunch and romaine lettuce.  I think I will plant a row of spinach for the fall in their stead.

My tomato plants are almost 7 feet tall.  I have a variety of cherry tomatoes and the larger ones are coming on strong.  The eggplants are developing nicely and I've also had to give away bags of cuccumbers.  I've rediscovered cucumber salad which my mom used to make in the summer years ago, so I'm using quite a few cucumbers.

I've harvested my garlic.  I think I have enough for the whole neighborhood, but I seem to cook with garlic almost everyday.  And one clove goes in each of the chickens various water buckets.  It seems to help prevent parasites.....at least that's what I read in my Backyard Chicken magazine.

The only thing I seem to have trouble with in the garden are peas.  Everyone else can grow peas like crazy but I have the most meager pea production ever.  I think I will skip them next year.  And they are supposed to be the easiest vegetable to grow.  Oh well.

I had blueberry pancakes at the Inn this past Sunday.  And the blueberries came from my own bushes.  I managed to get out and harvest them before the birds and chipmunks could get all of them.  I've heard we are supposed to have dominion over all these creatures.....but somehow they still seem to get the best of me in the blueberry patch.

It's been unseasonably warm up here in the North Country this year.  But thank goodness we are getting rain a bit.  I went out to my neices baby shower the weekend before last and flying in we could tell that everything was just completely burned.  My friends family had a big farm in Iowa and he said all the crops are dead and they will just have to plow them under.  So sad.  Farming is not for the weak at heart.  He's optomistic next year will be better.

But we've had a wonderful summer.  Hot, but everything is still green.  And I think the corn is just about to be harvested!!