Tattie Harvest III

Tattie3

Two medium, three small, seven tiny, nine minuscule: 450g.  This crop was made into patatas bravas for Jamie's birthday dinner.  They were delicious.  I was especially impressed by the two-tone tattie.  I hope I get more of those. 

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Tattie Harvest II

It occurred to me that I forgot to weigh my first harvest.  This one comes in at 630g, so I'm estimating the last batch at 500g.  That's over a kilo of potatoes so far!  I'm planning to use the little ones to make potato salad for dinner, and the largest four or five are for the nice man downstairs that has put up with my gardening all year.  The count for today comes to 5 small, 12 tiny and 16 minuscule, plus two medium reds.  Total weight so far, 1.13kg.

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Tattie Harvest I

Despite the rain today, I ventured out into the garden to get some
potatoes to go with tonight's stew. The little pot (my control group)
only yielded three small potatoes, so I started digging in the box.
To my delight, we have achieved 6 small, 10 tiny, and 13 minuscule in
our first harvest! I dug up the first layer of two plants, so
presuming there are still more undisturbed under there, we might have
five or six more harvests of the same size over the next few months!

I was concerned for a while at the state of the plants, since about
half of them went yellow and wilted in the rain, and the remainder
were being slowly but thoroughly eaten by invisible bugs. I smoothed
the soil back over the part I had disturbed and with any luck, my
little potatoes will get a chance to grow a bit bigger before I make
them into mash.

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Tomato and Tomatoer

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The windowsill tomatoes are all doing wonderfully. I planted them out into their own pots a few days ago, and they're starting to put out their third set of leaves. There is no way I'll be able to look after ten indeterminate heirloom tomato plants in my little flat. Anyone want to adopt a few?

The chard in the background has been looking a little weak, but it's making good progress. I'm going to wait until their stems are a bit sturdier, then try them in the new trough outside.

This weekend we made a Homebase trip for more compost for the potatoes. They are growing like crazy! I'm going to need more wood slats for the sides soon. We also picked up the aforementioned trough, half of which now contains lettuce from the Farmers' Market, and some large pots for the tomatoes. When I was downstairs just now harvesting parsley and oregano for a batch of beetroot salsa, I noticed that my planted-on-a-whim mustard greens are getting huge. They might go well with the pheasant tonight; I will have to look up how to cook them.

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The Usual Suspects

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I have three kinds of lovelies in my bathroom window this Spring.

1. Serrano peppers, from seeds saved from last year's crop. These
were very late in sprouting, and are still very small. I will have to
watch them very carefully.

2. Heirloom tomatoes (Brandywine) from free-with-purchase trial seeds.
There were ten seeds in the packet. They all sprouted. I have
learned from internet research that Brandywines are an indeterminate
potato-leafed variety. Indeterminate means they will grow taller and
taller forever, unless I snap off the secondary stems. Potato-leafed,
sadly, does not mean that their leaves are shaped like potatoes, but
like the leaves of potatoes, which is less interesting.

3. Ruby chard. By far my favourite vegetable (and so versatile!),
they were quick to sprout, but have since been overtaken by the
tomatoes. I am starting to see secondary leaves, though, so now the
only challenge is refraining from eating them until they're big enough
to tolerate losing a few leaves at a time.

I love growing things. It's like making food out of dirt and code.

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Guest Post: No-Knee Gardening ~or~ Everything’s Coming up Sprouts

I sprained my knee.  OUCH!  It looks like the big garden will fall by the wayside for now, so... SPROUTS!

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Fenugreek seeds, lentils & mung beans soaked on day one.  (No fancy equipment.  I used mason jars with the mesh from packaged grocery store onions as the strainer top.) 
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Rinsed and drained every 8-12 hours. 

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2 days later, they’re done! 
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I couldn’t resist a yummy snack.  I have a very fond memory ofmy college cafeteria serving bagels with cream cheese, tomato, and alfalfa sprouts.  This is a “lighter” version. 

I like to host a dinner each week with friends and we all bring something to the table.  This week, a friend is bringing a marinated london broil for grilling.  I will be making a Korean sprout salad to accompany the grilled meat. 

...

This guest post brought to you by Jeri Crystal, my mother and Queen of Frugality.  Do you like my crown?

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Potato update

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This weekend I did a bit more potato work. The plants are growing like crazy, so I topped up the compost again, which necessitated another layer of wooden slats. I've also been noticing telltale signs of digging, so I installed a layer of chicken wire (reclaimed from an unsightly bit of the fence last month) and put up a helpful sign. This means you, Charlie.

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Abundance

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I will never lack for sage.

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Coming along

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The windowsill plants are coming along nicely. It's just about time to plant out the celery and chamomile. I was delighted to find out that the mixed salad seeds included some basil, which I've never had success growing in Scotland. They are thriving, though. When the lettuce is spent I'll turn the pots over to basil production. Could be some nice pizza in our future.

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