Name: Cinda Indiana Zone 5a Truth is worth finding
Not really
Both my guys are serious about photography , and my son's business is photography and computers, so it just kinda rubs off.
This is my sons work
Name: Jamie R Zone 5, WI save the rainforest & habitat
yeah...makes me want to print those, cut them out and paste them into my shade garden! do you think they would winter? (sorry....tired, just wanted to post too so I didn't get lost. I enjoy reading what you industrious types are up to. )
Woman on the eastbound train
...........................................Je Suis Désolé.
(also a mule lovin', Charley huggin' girl)
Those potatoes look good from here. Those ribbons used to stress me out when I was a kid in 4-H. Doesn't red mean not that good, and white means pretty bad? I wonder what was wrong with the ones on the end.
Name: Cinda Indiana Zone 5a Truth is worth finding
I think steuben is the county
I was wondering why the white potatoes all seem to have a blue ribbon and the reds lesser ribbons.
Maybe white potatoes produce a better quality potato.
When I lived in Michigan and grew potatoes The white ones attracted far more leaf eating beetles than the red , I quit growing whites and only grew reds.
It would be interesting to find the judging criteria for various vegetables and see if we measure up.
One of the things I remember from 4-H was that if you have a set of something, they want them to be nearly identical in size and shape. They'd really ding you for stuff like that. Mine wouldn't do very well, especially the fingerlings. I have all kinds of crazy-shaped potatoes.
I finished my second batch of canning in two days. After sorting the potatoes, I took the ones with nibbles out of them (they held up great, no signs of rotting or anything icky), scrubbed them really good, and cut off the bad spots. I cut the good parts into chunks (about cubic-inch sized) and canned them. Ended up with 14 pint jars (and some others that I need to eat soon because I blanched them and then realized it was too many for one canner load.
It was really a great first canning project because it involved simply scrubbing and chopping one ingredient. I wanted to try salsa first, but it was getting kind of complicated to figure out if I had the right amount of everything, and you're supposed to follow the recipe exactly as it is.
The potatoes in the jars are pretty much cooked, so I'll be able to just dump then out and warm them up quickly when I'm hungry for potatoes. I'm a little disappointed that my pretty pink potatoes lost their color in the pressure canner, but I'll get over it.
Name: Jamie R Zone 5, WI save the rainforest & habitat
losing the blush on pink potatoes....one of life's little tragedies!
Sounds like you worked very hard but how nice to open a bit of summer in the midst of a snowstorm. If you have a left over to use now may I suggest chowder???/...then let me know when I should get there!
Woman on the eastbound train
...........................................Je Suis Désolé.
(also a mule lovin', Charley huggin' girl)
The verdict is in....it actually is possible to grow a 2nd crop of potatoes in our zone. You all may remember I planted several organic potatoes that were beginning to sprout around the first of August. I lost most of them to the darned chipmunks, but 2 potatoes survived being dug up, chewed on, and replanted long enough to finally grow. I harvested today, and got 6 or 7 nice sized potatoes from my two little starts.
Will definitely try this again next year, but will have to plan ahead to get some potatoes chitted in time for the 2nd planting. I guess I can just hit up Whole Foods or someplace for some organic potatoes, which hopefully haven't been sprayed with that sprouting retardant.
Succession planting is really something I'm trying to work on. I would have thought my peas should be fabulous as a second crop, but the darned critters just kept chewing on them. If I could rid my yard of chipmunks, I could probably increase my yield by 50%
Heidi: are you starting to put your garden to bed? I'd love to know how much you ended up harvesting and/or canning. Any 2nd crops for you this season?
I've got broccoli and lettuce going, and that's it. Got to get the garlic in soon. What are you growing?
I've been picking peppers up until a week ago. Sometime this week the peppers finally got zapped by the cold, so I picked even the unripe ones tonight. Lots of holy moles. I brought them in just in case I could get them to ripen . . . We'll see.
Everything's pretty much done otherwise. I'll let 'em get good and crispy and start pulling stuff out. I actually enjoy doing it, if the weather is decent.
I ended up canning 5 pints of green beans from that late planting, and put about half that much in the freezer. Not a bumper crop, but pretty good for that late in the season. They were Nash green beans. Someone on DG recommended them.
Oh! And I "harvested" a watermelon today. I had a really good feeling that it wasn't fully ripe but figured we'd try anyway. My sweet little nephew gobbled it up like it was the yummiest thing. I took a bite and had to spit it out - bitter! It was funny watching him eat it, though.
(sorry....tired, just wanted to post too so I didn't get lost. I enjoy reading what you industrious types are up to. 
)
I think steuben is the county
