The best laid plans of mice and men...

Today was rather disappointing.

First, this morning we drove out to the county with the children and went blueberry picking. After reading so many posts on other blogs the past few weeks about the wonderful fun of blueberry picking, I admit I was looking forward to a lovely morning picking these tasty blue jewels with my cheerful children.

But alas, we arrived too late in the morning, and it was already very hot. All three of the children were complaining pretty much constantly that they were too hot and they wanted to go home. Jasper escaped us more than once. The worst time, we couldn't find him for about five minutes. The only reason we were reunited was because someone who was picking near us recognized him and brought him over. I think Jasper had gone looking for the car, where he knew there was water to drink.

After that he took off his shoes and socks and tried to stay in the shade. I knew the kids were hot, so I was trying to pick as fast as possible. Right when my bucket was just about full, Jasper dumped it out--on purpose! Already being hot and sweaty and slightly grumpy, I almost lost my cool right there...good thing my level-headed husband was there to keep me calm. ;)

We made it home eventually with about 20 lbs of blueberries, and they are delicious. Tonight I'll be making jam, and freezing most of the rest. So it's not like the day was a loss--but it just wasn't as much fun as I had hoped it would be!

Then this afternoon, we decided to try harvesting the potatoes that we have been growing in the backyard using the box method . Many of the plants' leaves turned brown a while ago, and we have reached the length of time specified on the box of seed potatoes, so we thought why not? Hashbrowns would be nice for supper tonight.

So Chris pulled off the screen and wooden slats off the box, and started digging through the dirt...and digging...and digging...

This is what he found.

Yep. That's it. Our entire 2010 potato harvest. To put this picture in perspective, those really little ones are about as big as my baby fingernail. So there isn't even close to enough here to make one single meal for us. One serving, maybe.

This is really a big disappointment. The box of seed potatoes alone cost $5, and we probably spent another $10 in soil and compost to fill the potato box. Just to get a small handful of potatoes! I'm not sure what we did wrong. The green part of the plants grew very fast and got really lanky--maybe the plants were putting all their energy into the above ground part instead of below ground, for some reason? I can't figure it.

Well, that's life. I guess its good that I'm making these mistakes now, rather than a few years down the road when we have a huge garden and I will have the opportunity to make mistakes on a huge scale. 

In the meantime, we now have a large quanity of rich soil in that corner of the garden, so I think I will sow some green onion seeds since I still have some left, and the green onions we've been growing in the shade of the enormous potato plants are pathetic to say the least.

Comments

[Garden Mama]

A huge part of gardening is learning each year. I wonder if you were mounding the soil up and around the ever growing greens? Good for you to sow onions in that spot, it is never a waste to create good soil! (I understand how frustrating though) Best of luck!

[Stephanie]

This made me laugh out loud. It sounds like my life....every single day! I haven't tried potatoes yet but we're planting them for the fall. If we get a better crop I'll let you know!

Stephanie :)
www.simplicitymom.blogspot.com

P.S. I LOVE the quote by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

[Lise]

Oh, I so understand! My total potato harvest was 3/4 of a pound. Super disappointing. And a friend just told me we've missed blueberries altogether, the season was so early! I've picked NONE yet, and I generally freeze 40 pounds--and rely on them all winter. Yikes! It's all "getting there."

[Laura Jeanne]

Hi Nicole,
We did add more soil and raise the sides of the box as the potato plants grew, but we're thinking that maybe we didn't add the soil fast enough. As I mentioned, the potatoes grew VERY fast and it was hard to keep up with them.

[Anita Kaiser]

Oh Laura, that sucks...........we've done so much learning this year with my garden as well!
In regards to the blueberry picking I know whenever I have expectations - sadly things never turn out as I hoped........perhaps the jam will taste so good that it makes it all worthwhile.

[stella]

Laura I think I read on the forum or here that you started them in good soil with compost? I have never raised taters with this method but I do know that if you have the soil too rich that they will make all plant and no tater. I am thinking that people who do this method successfully are luckily getting just the right balance of nutrients. With the fact that you say the plant grew really fast makes me think it may have had too much fertilize via the compost. Dont feel bad about no taters, we planted 2 different times and have zip,zero, nada, nil. The first ones simply rotted in the ground and the second time, the tater bugs had a field day. ANd I sprayed the heck out of em the whole time. For our "starch" next year I think Iwill try growing rice or macaroni. lol I give up on taters.

[Laura Jeanne]

Thanks Stella. I asked about this on the Backwoods Home forum too, and I got the same answer. Next time we try, we won't use nearly as much compost. I didn't realize that soil could be too rich, but now I know. As I said, I'm glad I made this mistake on a small scale rather than a large one!

Don't give up on your own potatoes, the third time's a charm! :)

[Abbie]

I am sure making mistakes is a VERY common thing with gardening. I will be doing a ton of that next year when we get our big home garden up and going.
Thanks for letting me know I won't be the only one! Good luck with the green onions.

[Maura @ Lilac Lane Cottage]

Hello Laura Jeanne, aww that's too bad that your blueberry picking didn't go as well as expected. It's hard picking berries with little ones. We used to take our kids picking huckleberries in the mountains...now that was a little scary as we always had to be on the lookout for bears. We also had to watch our footing as we were on a mountain side with lots of old downed trees and rocks. It was fun though and always rewarding. I'm sure your potatoes will do better next year. At least they're not expensive to buy and right now the Farmers Markets will be selling them. Enjoy your day...Maura :)

[maggie (New Zealand)]

You will find the potatoes grow much better in your garden - not the box method. Just plant them in Spring, then when the green shoots emerge heap the soil up and around once or twice. Potatoes are an easy crop to grow. That box method is over-rated!