Thursday, June 10, 2010

Mud and rain and such

Well, since the weather seems to think we need even more rain, I went out between showers today and planted. Yep, in the mud. By the time I was finished up, the soles of my shoes were about an inch thicker from the mud (and that's even after scraping them off a few times). So, recently planted are some squash plants and more squash (seed-form) in hills: Burgess Buttercup, Eastern Rise, and a mystery squash ("Gold" or "Sweet Dumpling" or both--a donation from a high school ag department).

The potatoes also went in today. I know... I know... everyone says they should be planted on Good Friday. And this year it was even warm enough on Good Friday to do that! Well, this is one of those unconventional things that I'm doing since it worked before. Two years ago I was a good girl who put in a mountain of potatoes as close to Good Friday as possible. Nothing. I think I got out 20 pounds of spuds from the 20 pounds of seed potatoes I planted. Not a great return. Last year, I bought the seed potatoes, cut them and promptly forgot about them until almost everything else was planted! I threw the 5 pounds or so in the ground (didn't want to spend more on seed potatoes than I spent on store potatoes if they weren't going to do anything!) and HOLY COW--I had tons of taters! Ok, maybe not tons... but harvested at least 20 pounds or more. So, this year I wasn't sure if I was going to plant any or not. (I tend to like planting reliable crops.) Last week decided to go for it. Farmers Seed and Nursery in Faribault still had seed potatoes so had the kids pick up 20 pounds--mix of Red Norland and Red Pontiac.  So, let's hope for the best.

Let's also hope we get some drier and warmer weather. It's too wet to try to weed, so the weeds are really starting to get crazy. Two good days with the scuffle hoe would do some amazing things! 

6 comments:

JulieA said...

They are Heart of Gold Sqaush and it was a Horticulture club, the school doesn't have an ag department :(.

April said...

Thanks for letting me know, Julie! I couldn't remember the exact name, and the sticks all just said Gold, except for one that said "GOLD" on one side and "Sweet Dumpling" on the other. I've planted Sweet Dumpling before--they are very good, yet little, like personal squash. :-)

Bummer on the no ag department. Mikey wishes they had one at BA. Randolph has a very active Ag dept and FFA. Cannon Falls had Ag cut last year.

Anyhow, if I get another day of spotty rain, we'll get the tomatoes all in the mud. :-) Thanks again for the plants!!!

Julie Hedeen said...

April, I bought some of those strawberries from you or when you got them too. I have already had tons (considering my little15X20 patch) picked. That's the best I've ever done with strawberries. I planted potatoes late too, don't know why I don't get good ones anymore, I always used to. Maybe it's because I keep trying to get Yukon golds and the red ones and they don't like my soil, Anyway, I'm home today and everything else has to go in rain or not. So I'm with you there too!

JulieA said...

You are welcome, if I get to start a Horticulture class next year school year 2012 it will be a small step toward an Ag department. It is really raining here, the neighbor has a black path of topsoil from the next yard that has washed there. It rained so hard that our drainage tile area was flooded out. As soon as it lets up this after noon I will finish planting. Got the new tiller to work it did a sweet job.

Happy Gardening

April said...

Julie H., We've gotten enough strawberries to eat a bunch, have strawberries with ice cream twice (all 8 of us!) and make a batch of freezer jam. Plus, the CSA members each got a quart. It's wonderful! Now if the rain would stop trying to ruin them--I'm getting quite a few rotten ones now, and fresh ones need to be used IMMEDIATELY or they get gross fast. But oh, are they good!

April said...

JulieA--isn't this rain crazy. I don't think I will be able to get in the garden without sinking about 2 feet! We got about 2 inches this morning also. So, in the meantime, I'm trying to catch up on house stuff so when the sun shines again, I can go outside without feeling guilty about things I need to do in the house! I have a ton of 4-H stuff I'm working on...whew!