The Modern Victory Garden

The weather was overcast but not storming this morning and recognizing that I will be tied up all next weekend, I decided to take a chance and go ahead and do the potato harvesting process today - hoping it would not start raining again right in the middle of the task.                            

I worked my way through the entire 40-foot long bed, which had the Caribe, Yukon Gold, and Red Cloud potatoes in it.   I then moved on and did the harvest of the 12-foot long bed, which had the Butte potatoes in it (along with the Steins Late Flat Dutch cabbages so the potatoes were actually occupying about a 10-foot long bed section).   I ended up with 96 pounds of potatoes from the two beds.    

I also lifted over 15 additional pounds that I ended up having to destroy, as they clearly had some blight infection.      The potatoes were spread out on newspapers on the front deck to dry off.                          

They were allowed to dry for about two hours, and I turned them after the first hour to ensure the undersides had a chance to dry off too.     I then carefully sorted through them and used a shop rag to gently dust off the excess dried dirt.   Any potatoes that had skin damage or were injured by the garden fork during the lifting were held out in an open top box for immediate use.    I also removed several more potatoes that upon cleaning up revealed some more blight damage.   If in doubt, they were tossed out - as infected potatoes will rot and can spoil the other good ones that are adjacent to them in the storage boxes.   I will have to do periodic checks on these in storage to ensure that if any more go bad subsequently that they are promptly removed.   These were then sorted by variety and placed in storage boxes with shredded paper lining the bottom for moisture absorption.          

The 96 pounds I harvested today plus the 24 pounds I had harvested previously brings the total production from the potato beds at 120 lbs for the year.   Because there was some blight infection, I will not hold any seed stock out this year and will have to purchase new certified seed potatoes next spring.   The Buttes were entirely without blight infection and the Caribe potatoes suffered the most infection.                        

Before wrapping up, I broadcast seeded the newly opened beds with a green manure  / cover crop of crimson clover. These beds will rest through the winter and then early next spring I will turn the cover crop over into the soil.                         

Yesterday, it was storming something fierce.   I harvested several pounds of jalapeño peppers (and a few ripe mini bell peppers too) from the greenhouse during a torrential downpour and thunderstorm.   I was protected in the greenhouse but it was a bit unnerving!                                 

Once safely back in the house, I used the peppers to make 6 pints of pickled peppers.                                                              

I have not used this recipe before so I have no idea if it is any good.   I will have to wait at least four weeks to try it out.   Because the jalapeño peppers are not that hot this year, I added some crushed red pepper flakes to the recipe to introduce just a little more heat.                                   

Pickled Jalapeño Peppers                                    

Wash peppers and puncture each one several times with the tip of a sharp knife (3 or 4 times). Pack tightly in pint jars. Cover with a solution of:

• 4 cups vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup olive oil
• 4 teaspoons pickling salt
• 4 tablespoons mixed pickling spices
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Mix ingredients and bring to a boil. Cover peppers up to ½ inch from top of jar. Seal and process 10 minutes in water bath canner. Enough solution for 6 pints.                                                  

I hope you had a productive and fun Labor Day weekend.