Potato Bin Harvest

Over the last couple days I harvested my potato bin in stages. The potatoes grew alright this season but did end up dieing from late blight. Once I noticed the blight I removed all the plant material and placed it in the garbage.

Here is a photo of the few potatoes that developed at the top of the bin. It was said that late season varieties will produce potatoes along their stem and they did. With that said the tubers near the surface were rather small and there was not a whole lot of them.

Here is my final harvest, a messily 6lb 10oz. I think I may have used more food energy harvesting these potatoes then the potatoes produced! Will I bin again, definitely not. It takes an enormous amount of soil and work to fill. Then once you harvest the bin the soil can not be used for the bin again because of disease problems. My bin will not go to waste though, it will be recycled into a much needed composter.

Up coming post will be an update on my blight problem and an update on my fall crops.

still painting....

Here is a photo that was taken part way through my long weekend that was spent painting. Late last week I applied all the primer to change from oil based stain to water based paint. This photo does not show the colour very well but it is a light green and the balusters are white. I just finished the railings this evening and I am glade to be done. Now all that is left to do is sand, prime and paint the deck which will be changing to a taupe/beige colour that matches our window trim. The forecast is not looking good for deck painting so it will have to wait until I have at least three days without any rain.

Other painting that needs to be done is three exterior doors & some window painting. We are having the remaining old windows replaced some time in October and I need to paint a bit of brick to match the aluminum cladding that they will install. Not sure when I will get to this, some time this month I hope.

Being that I have been painting from sun up to sun down I have not even been in the veggie patch. I will do a post on the garden either Tues or Wed and it will probaly be about the blight that keeps spreading.

Hope everyone had a good long weekend!

Tomato Seed Saving Time

Now that we are into the later developed tomatoes it is perfect timing to start saving tomato seeds. I have posted about this topic before and have done a how to which can be found the following link. I am not saving a lot of tomato seed this year because I still have lots left but I do need to replenish a few and what's better then replenishing for free. First I am saving Porkchop, Velvet Red & Purple Calabash because I received them in trades and only have a few seeds left. I am also out of Cherokee Purple seeds so I am saving lots of them, future trades anyone? The only tomato I need to save seed from now is Pink Berkley Tie Dye, I hope some fruit ripens before the blight takes over.

Well on the blight topic, the weather is forcasted to be rather dry for the next couple weeks. This should presumably slow down the blight and I hope I can harvest most to the remain tom's. This is the first year I have had blight in the six years I have grown tomatoes. Our summers are usually fairly warm and dry so I have never had this problem. I guess there is a first for everything.

I am also taking advantage of the dry weather to paint the porch. It was painted three years ago and has started to peel in a few places so I need to get on top of it before it goes to crap. I have about 50' of railing & posts to paint. I am painting the railing & posts light green to match the siding and the balusters, all 150ish of them, will be painted white to match the soffits. Should be excruciating.

Monday's Harvest Post

Aug 28th harvest: The basket is full of Cherokee Purple tomatoes, this plant has by far been the best producer this year. Next season I am growing at least three Cherokee Purple plants. The tomatoes on the raised bed from left to right are two Purple Calabash (from Skippy's Vegetable Garden), one Hillbilly Potato Loaf (this tom is minuscule compared to the monsters currently on the plant) and three Velvet Red (from The Conservative Gardener). In front is a zucchini that was grated and froze for baking, a few cherry tomatoes and a couple cucumbers. These two will probably be the last cucumbers of the season as the leaves have been devastated with mildew.

Aug 30th harvest: In the basket are the last of the early red potatoes that I grew in compost bags. They have done pretty well but the yield was low. Also in the basket is a mix of beans, Kentucky Blue, Purple Podded & Dragon Tongue beans. Beans really have been a bust this year, the Dragon Tongues produced well for a couple weeks but the poles have barely produced at all. Last but not least the tomatoes! The pinkish one is Giant Belgian (sweet, non-acidic taste), the yellow is Porkchop (extremely yellow with a nice acidic tomato taste) and two Cherokee Purples in the back (the best tomato in my opinion). There also is a couple black cherry tomatoes tucked in there.

My poor tomatoes....

I went out to do some harvesting and found five tomatoes that had started to rot. I am guessing this is late blight? The leaves on the plants look good still and it appears it was just affecting a few tomatoes that all were at the tip of the clutch. Here's hoping it doesn't start to spread! I nipped out all the affected plant parts and will disposes of them in the garbage. Maybe I will drown my sorrows by canning some garden tomato sauce & fermenting some tomato seeds tonight....

*Update - I went out to see if I could find any more damage and there is brown spots on the leaves and stems. I removed some more material and I guess I will just have to wait it out. I hope that at least the largest tomatoes that currently are on the plants will ripen. I am definitely not going to spray, the organic copper based sprays can kill birds & worms as well as cause liver damage to humans so I will not touch that stuff.

I guess this is to be expected with the season we have had. July saw only three days above 30c(86F) and August was not much better. August was also very rainy with use seeing a 1/4 more rain then the norm. This season has really tested ones veggie gardening patiences!