Earlier this week, I decided to dig up my main-crop potatoes. I had high hopes for them as the plants grew tall and lush this summer. This year, I grew mostly All Blues (5 lb) and two fingerling varieties - Rose Finn (3 lb) and Red Thumb (1 lb). I was disappointed by how my potted potato plants had performed, so needless to say, I was anxious to see whether or not the ones grown in the ground had fared any better.
I planted my potatoes in a double row next to my asparagus bed. I chose this location in the back garden because it gets full sun all day long. When I started digging into one row, the first couple of plants were very encouraging. The potatoes were large and flawless and the yield was respectable.
Then came....
nothing....
nothing....
nothing?!
Yes, NOTHING for the remainder of the row. And the few I did find looked like this:
Hmmm...I began to smell a rat (or more likely a field mouse or chipmunk).
The next morning, I halfheartedly began digging into the second row. Miraculously, not a single plant or potato showed signs of critter damage. (I guess the potatoes in the other row were much tastier.) At the end of the day, I lost about 40% of my potato crop to pests but still ended up with a decent haul.
I find it funny now to think that when I first started gardening, all I had were visions of green perfection. The reality, it turns out, is far from perfect. (Who knew that Mother Nature was so adept at crushing one's soul?) I'm sure the pros will tell you that you have to grow with the mindset that you will undoubtedly lose a percentage of your crops to forces well beyond your control. Well, in my defense, I never said that I was a fast learner.
Very frustrating to lose crops to critters. Pretty insulting too that they chose to make a nest right in your potato bed using the straw. Hopefully the dogs will keep some chippies, bunnies, and mice away from your yard next year. Bradie loves chasing them off.
ReplyDeleteGlad you ended up with a good potato harvest in spite of the little thieves. I have learned to always overplant just in case.
"too bad we can't eat either of these things"..... LMAO! Yes it can be discouraging sometimes :)
ReplyDeletethere's nothing more frustrating than digging potatoes and finding none, or more satisfying than digging potatoes and finding tons!
ReplyDeletegardening is such wonderful torture.
Well said, Abigail!
ReplyDeleteErin - discouraging is an understatement!
GrafixMuse - Unfortunately, the dogs seem more interested in the grass - as in lying on it!
It's a crap shoot. Every year there will be things that do well and things that won't. I'm still relatively new to this myself, so it's hard to get used to. Now we get to put the garden to bed and dream of perfect summer gardens.
ReplyDeleteGardening, especially vegetable and fruit gardening, is not for the faint of heart. There always seems to be something out there that want's a share (or all) of the bounty. I can't get the moles and/or voles under control in the garden so I'm not even bothering to plant the potatoes, carrots, and parsnips that I had planned for the fall and winter. I am really pissed off about that.
ReplyDeleteWow, that was some crop loss Thomas. Might it have been a groundhog? I hear they can do some serious eating in the garden. :/
ReplyDeleteOh, don't I ever understand your frustration. I've lost whole fruit trees to gopher damage. If I think about whether or not I should water the melon vines, the fruit splits. As soon as I fall in love with a beneficial insect, something else comes along and devours it. There is no end to the frustration. Thank goodness that what little we do finally reap tastes so good.
ReplyDeleteI think your haul is just perfect! Think of it this way, if you had trippled that take, yes, it would have been fun and impressive, but maybe you wouldn't have gotten to eat it all before it sprouted or went bad and you'd feel bad about that, too, so this may not be so bad after all.
ReplyDeletemaybe?
All those critters trying to find a niche for themselves are bound to find the garden. Especially in a year like this that is so dry. They love our nicely watered plants. I do expect every year to have losses. It comes with the territory. This year was my new neighbor the groundhog. Last year it was the cold, rainy slug infested summer. The year before it was the chipmunks. It's always something. But then again there is usually bumper crops of something. This year was the year of the tomato. Last year was the year of lettuce.
ReplyDeleteThat's a pretty good harvest of potatoes you have there.
ReplyDeleteWhen gardening for food there's always something gone wrong or some critters messing things up. I always count on 50% loss and don't worry about anything beyond my control, if I can harvest half of what I grow I call it a good year, and I won't tell how many times I seeded and reseeded the same vegetables just to get them started.
I rhink you got a nice potato harvest despite the critters. I don't think I would know what to do if I had a garden year that went as planned?! Never happened and not likely to in the future. :D
ReplyDeleteYou're right - but it will get cold, and as we sit by the fire, we'll forget all about the adversities and get all excited again!
ReplyDeleteIn the end, your potatoes look amazing! I think I'm going to grow these purple potatoes next year. Too beautiful not to!
That's how I felt when I dug up my potatoes. I was a bit disappointed. Early in the season I dreamed about more potatoes than we could handle. And storing them down in the cellar. Wasn't the case. We had enough potatoes to make 2 sets of mashed potato. Oh well, there is always next year.
ReplyDeleteYou've done really well with that crop of blue potatoes, I love growing them. We've had a very dry Summer here in London so potato crop is very small this year.
ReplyDeleteJust think of it as your "portion" to nature. Kind of like payment for her giving you such deliciousness! ;-D
ReplyDeletejessyburke88@gmail.com
Oh, I feel your pain!
ReplyDeleteI too had grandiose dreams about harvests, egged on by Mel Bartholomew's idyllic prose in his square foot gardening book. What lies, I say!
My husband is so distraught over the loss of all 5 of our first apples to deer (plus half of the tree's leaves) this week that I don't know if he'll even mention it in the garden update this week. It was depressing...
I had the same reaction when I dug up my potatoes. Despite the tops being so much healthier looking than last year's slug-ridden greens, I had many plants that failed to develop tubers at all. And some of those that did were gnawed on by moles, which are running rampant in my front lawn.
ReplyDeleteMy first attempt at potatoes was a bust, so I am envious of your 40% yield compared to my 0%!
ReplyDeleteIs there a way that you can prevent these critters from getting to your crop next year, or are you just going to cross your fingers and hope?
KFC as your to-go crisis food, I totally love it!
ReplyDeleteI'm really sorry to hear about your potato loss. At least the critters left you the other 60%, but I know the loss still sucks. I sulk about my garden losses, too, to a point where Keith thinks that if I'm going to be so upset, maybe I shouldn't garden at all. I think Abigail said it best, when she said it's a wonderful torture!