[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by arctichomesteader

Well it's official...late blight has hit some of my tomatoes. Not the ones on my back porch where they've been protected from the rain and nothing else is around, but the ones at my actual garden, unprotected, are coming down with it...sucks, they're just growing tomatoes now some of them are already rotten...oh well, at least my beans are almost ready to pick and it looks like I have a big bean crop this year...

I think if anyone has healthy plants and wants a tomato crop they'll be forced to resort to fungicides of some sort this year. Such a pity, I hate chemicals.

Sorry to hear that arctic.

[quickdraw]

It's official, I'm a potato farmer. I planted several plants that have been growing fairly tall. I finally found one.

Maybe I'm not digging deep enough.

My wife asked me if I didn't mistakenly plant a radish.

This potato better be damn good. Magical even.

[LisaMc46]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

It's official, I'm a potato farmer. I planted several plants that have been growing fairly tall. I finally found one.

Maybe I'm not digging deep enough.

My wife asked me if I didn't mistakenly plant a radish.

This potato better be damn good. Magical even.

Quickdraw,

It's too early to harvest your potatoes. You need to wait until mid to late September (depending where you live) when the plants begin to turn brown and die back. Then, it's time to harvest.

You'll be amazed at the yield you'll get even if you just planted a few seed potatoes. We plant a separate potato/pumpkin garden since these crops mature at around the same time.

My kids say that harvesting the potatoes is "like an Easter egg hunt." We just give them little shovels and the scoop them up by the bucket full. Last year, they counted over 200. We stored them in our basement and they lasted until early spring.

This year the local garden center ran out of seed potatoes so a farmer friend gave us a large bag of potatoes from her crop last year and we just cut them up and planted them. The varieties ranged from brown to red to purple and blue. We can't wait to see what we dig up this year.

[vter]

I would love to try and grow potatoes but we have a hard time growing anything "underground". We have clay soil...we've tried carrots and they come out with 3 "heads". Pretty funny. I suppose if we really worked the soil we could do it, but we're not that into it LOL.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by LisaMc46

Quickdraw,

It's too early to harvest your potatoes. You need to wait until mid to late September (depending where you live) when the plants begin to turn brown and die back. Then, it's time to harvest.

You'll be amazed at the yield you'll get even if you just planted a few seed potatoes. We plant a separate potato/pumpkin garden since these crops mature at around the same time.

My kids say that harvesting the potatoes is "like an Easter egg hunt." We just give them little shovels and the scoop them up by the bucket full. Last year, they counted over 200. We stored them in our basement and they lasted until early spring.

This year the local garden center ran out of seed potatoes so a farmer friend gave us a large bag of potatoes from her crop last year and we just cut them up and planted them. The varieties ranged from brown to red to purple and blue. We can't wait to see what we dig up this year.

Thanks Lisa. Somebody told me that it was time to pull them up? Obviously she was wrong.

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Thanks Lisa. Somebody told me that it was time to pull them up? Obviously she was wrong.

Might have been referring to new potatoes (the immature little potatoes you can dig up now). They're delicious, but if you dig them all up now you won't get full sized potatoes later...

[Duff in VT]

Went away for the week-end and left 20 healthy, raised from seed tomato plants growing lushly in the garden. Came back to blight. Dead, dying plants and black tomatoes. All that work .. I'd take the seedlings from window to window to get the sun, the mulching, staking.. all for nothing.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by Duff in VT

Went away for the week-end and left 20 healthy, raised from seed tomato plants growing lushly in the garden. Came back to blight. Dead, dying plants and black tomatoes. All that work .. I'd take the seedlings from window to window to get the sun, the mulching, staking.. all for nothing.

Sorry Duff - a real bummer.

I pulled some black leaves off my tomatoes today so I may be in the boat with you. They weren't typical blight, but something is up. I wouldn't be surprised, I guess I'll know in a few days.

[GraniteStater]

It looks like summer is here this week. Highs will be in the 80s over here in central NH.

[Summerz]

Well it rained Cats Dogs Horses and Cows this morning, knocked down a bunch of my flowers.