After the depressing, stomach-churning news of last night (a story for another time regarding a farmer's herbicide), I needed a good morning's work at Purgatory Ranch.
Myle, James and I tackled the most neglected potatoes and realized the grasshoppers had decimated the foliage of these plants. If we weeded and waited to harvest, the plants would disappear by the next week, and we wouldn't know where to dig.
Unexpected harvest time? Game on!
The Red Norlands produced fabulously, yielding 97 pounds of gloriously red-skinned potatoes. We observed the differences in harvest from years past: the ground was not bone dry, making the digging more complicated (we'll take the problems if the rain comes!), potatoes had spread more, so the field is pockmarked with our large holes. Technically, the yields are lower than last year's, but given the blatant neglect they received this year (one woman, mostly alone since everyone else was frantically busy elsewhere, can only do so much!), these are more than satisfactory results. I think Red Norland will return to the planting schedule next year!
We also discovered our Red Candy onions had not fared well against the onslaught of weeds. Most tops were missing, and in pulling weeds, we began to pull onions. With a shrug of shoulders, we harvested instead of weeding. 12 pound of onions for one row is not bad! We also harvest some sweet yellow onions (marketed as transplants as Vidalia, but who knew it's not legal to sell "Vidalia" onions grown outside a specific region of Georgia!?).
If you're in the area, we're selling produce this year. Email me for info!
Until next time, remember, this is not paradise. It's Purgatory Ranch.
Myle, James and I tackled the most neglected potatoes and realized the grasshoppers had decimated the foliage of these plants. If we weeded and waited to harvest, the plants would disappear by the next week, and we wouldn't know where to dig.
Unexpected harvest time? Game on!
The Red Norlands produced fabulously, yielding 97 pounds of gloriously red-skinned potatoes. We observed the differences in harvest from years past: the ground was not bone dry, making the digging more complicated (we'll take the problems if the rain comes!), potatoes had spread more, so the field is pockmarked with our large holes. Technically, the yields are lower than last year's, but given the blatant neglect they received this year (one woman, mostly alone since everyone else was frantically busy elsewhere, can only do so much!), these are more than satisfactory results. I think Red Norland will return to the planting schedule next year!
We also discovered our Red Candy onions had not fared well against the onslaught of weeds. Most tops were missing, and in pulling weeds, we began to pull onions. With a shrug of shoulders, we harvested instead of weeding. 12 pound of onions for one row is not bad! We also harvest some sweet yellow onions (marketed as transplants as Vidalia, but who knew it's not legal to sell "Vidalia" onions grown outside a specific region of Georgia!?).
If you're in the area, we're selling produce this year. Email me for info!
Until next time, remember, this is not paradise. It's Purgatory Ranch.
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