Spanking new potatoes with herbs for tonight’s roast chicken
Well, that’s good: it was for only six short weeks that potatoes were off the menu here. These Yukon Golds made a fine accompaniment to the roast chicken we had to celebrate Father’s Day. Potatoes this early in the season can only mean two things: one, they had to have been volunteers (indeed), and two, the freak-warm winter had a lot to do with their early maturity. So into a parchment paper envelope they went with butter and salt and…a stapled edge.
In order for me to repeat this gap between one potato harvest and the next, I just need wacky hot weather and to miss harvesting all of last year’s potatoes. Uh, no thanks. Keep the weather; Ill work on my harvest skillz.
But everything’s a mite early. Cherries, first blueberries: normally strawberries alone command our fruity attention at this time of year. Roses come and gone. First garlic pulled. Peas done (thankfully: we harvested 3 gallons (!) of them this weekend).
All this earliness doesn’t mean I am any happier that the new greenhouse remains a month behind my schedule. But it’s now planted at least. I suppose I ought to be glad the scalding temperatures of February killed my first tomato, eggplant and pepper seedlings off because it’s the second round of the same that are planted here at what fortuitously was the perfect size for transplanting. Small mercies.
Finally!
And yes, it’s only I who could think that 76 tomato, 15 eggplant, and 6 pepper plants (and 6 artichokes, 4 sweet potatoes and dozens of chard and basil plants) mean the new greenhouse is underplanted. It’s the layout that’s throwing me off. The other greenhouses are oriented N-S and this new one is E-W but the beds are continuous (and all point E-W in all cases). These beds are all 4′-0″ wide, running the greenhouse’s 32′ length. The beds in the other greenhouses are wee 3’x6′ things for the most part with lots of paths between. I still think the E-W orientation of any bed is best at this latitude; had the other greenhouses been planted like this one there’d be too much shadowing of the crops in the center beds.
Greenhouse building aside, mid-June is actually a not-too-busy time in the gardens (pea picking excepted). I’m just watering and weeding now; first crops are coming out and new ones follow in the empty spots. It’s a nice pace, frankly, just standing with the hose in one’s hand, watching things grow.
Glad you came to visit!
Got something to say? Email me at fastweedpuller at gmail dot com.
fast grow the weeds 
Sometimes I think that’s all Eric thinks I do . . . wander around and pluck food. Apparently his gardening experiences were more of the traumatic “hoe this row” kind. I like mine : )
Those potatoes look great! What kind of garlic was ready?
“76 tomato, 15 eggplant, and 6 pepper plants ” — sounds a lot like my garden! down in central New Mexico, the peas are already over (they rarely last past the first week of June, but tomatoes are setting up and beans getting tall enough to flower.
your potatoes look gorgeous! we have a hard time with them here, with heavy clay soil and inability to prioritize planting them (ha).
Wow, that’s a cool layout, it will be interesting to see how you like it compared to the mini beds. What a strange year weather-wise, I keep looking back at last year’s garden notes with amazement (though we were so cold last year its an even starker difference). And I keep watching rain go North of us and sighing.
Ugh, yes, got to embrace the hose this year, eh? Although you’re probably metered on city water–double ugh! (we’re on a well, duh, but it’s still electricity to get it) I think this layout should be a much better arrangement for the tomatoes. Haven’t shown it yet but there are wires running above the beds from bow to bow so I can tie the damned tomatoes up to them. MUCH preferred over staking in this yuck clay! Good luck over there; hope you catch a rain break.
I hear you on the rain! We dutifully have our gutters attached to our rain barrells and we wait. We were lucky at the start of the season here in central Virginia, had a nice spell of rain, sun, heat, repeat. Now just the heat is here and we await the rain, using the well as we wait.
I can’t find an answer to this question anywhere, so maybe you can help me. When do I check for the cute little new/baby potatoes? We’re much colder here, so our potato plants are only about a foot high. Some are quite a bit smaller. I think I check for mature potatoes when the plant starts to flower? But I’d love to harvest some baby ones while we wait. I think I’ve got 100 plants out there, all looking good.
I just got back the envelope I sent you full of tarbais and espelette seeds; it was all torn up and had one of those apologetic Post Office “sorry we destroyed your mail” stickers on it. I have a few left and I’ll try again.
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