Last fall, I got three kinds of fingerling potatoes from Cecil and Gwen, they are red, pink and white. Cecil and Gwen is a lovely couple who have a big garden, each year they fill the garden with potatoes, onions, beans, squashes, tomatoes, cucumbers and any veggies you can think of. Besides enjoying the fresh veggies, they can and preserve much of their harvest to feed the extended family and whoever happens to stop by. Cecil and Gwen came from many generations of gardeners, their parents gardened in the 1930's, their grandparents gardened in the 1900's. The garden tips I got from them are the real deal, simple, effective and cheap. Cecil and Gwen make the best soap bars they call "Columbia Bars", only natural ingredients were used. After bathing with their soap, the fragrant lingers on all day. Unfortunately, the only place you can buy them is at Scappoose Farmer's Market...
Cecil told me about how he got started on these wonderful fingerling potatoes. Years ago, someone gave him six fingerling potatoes. Instead of eating them, he planted them. That fall he harvested a couple dozens of them. He didn't eat any of it, instead he saved all his harvest and planted again next year. From then on, each year he would save a bucket of the best potatoes and plant again next season. I was lucky enough this year to get about 5 lb. of the fingerlings them. I planted them all this year in early May. When I first planted the potatoes, the rows were kind of bare, so I planted some lettuce in-between the potatoes. It worked out really. I was able to enjoy the lettuce before the potatoes were up. As the weather got hot, the potatoes were able to shade the lettuce, delaying the bolting. It is a real good combination. When the potatoes got to about 2 foot tall, I piled on soil at the base and continue to do so throughout the season. I was told by Cecil this will make the potatoes more productive as the buried portion will produce potatoes.
Buy the end of July I was able to dig out a few to taste, they did not disappoint! They are creamy, sweet and buttery good. The potatoes start to bloom, I can tell by digging around the base there are quite a few potatoes in there. By August, the weather is heating up and the potato plants starting to deteriorate. I pumped more water making sure the base is moist, allowing the tubers formed at the base to grow even larger.
Every summer blackberry rambles along an old logging road near our place. The juicy sweet berries are free for the picking. One recipe I love to make with these fresh free berries is blackberry scones. It is great with coffee or tea. Enjoy!
Here in the Pacific Northwest, it is another year of cool weather. If this becomes a pattern, we gardeners will have to adapt. There are several strategies we can use to get an early harvest despite of the adverse weather conditions, the most important one I think is to plant early maturing vegetable varieties. I have made that my quest for the past decade, many of the early vegetable varieties are included in my New Dimension Seed collection.
In my opinion, everyone should have zucchini plants in their vegetable garden. It is the one vegetable that can bring you as much pride as embarrassment. Zucchini is among the first in the garden to produce. You probably remember how excited you are when you get the first fruit. It's like breaking the fast after a long winter without fresh veggies. And then it all hits you, as one zucchini plant can put out 20-30 zucchinis, you'll get 4, 5, 6 zucchinis a day. You probably have done your share of pushing them on everyone you come in contact with. I have certainly done my share of racking my brain to find new ways to dispose of them. Here's a few strategy I've derived from my experience. So next time a zucchini storm hits you, you'll know what to do.
Zucchini pancakes is always the fist thing I make when fresh zucchini become available. Recipe: combined the shredded zucchini with new potatoes and fresh onion from the garden, added salt to draw the moisture out of the vegetables and added one egg and just enough flour to bind everything together. Cook it like you would pancakes on a flat non-stick pan with a small amount of oil on the bottom.
