Over the past while, folks have been asking me for a few new features on this site, so I’ve now added two new pages that you can access from the bottom of the right sidebar. These are…

The Site Index

This will list every post on this website, so that it’s easy to find articles you may have missed earlier. Go here to see it.

The Contact Page

Got a question? Need to speak your mind? Just need some human contact? Then visit the ‘Contact Me’ page.

And one other thing…

One of my goals this summer is to visit a lot of u-pick farms. I’ve already tried once, only to be told they were still closed for the season. (How disappointing!) But as the season progresses, I plan to visit many of the u-pick farms in my area. But that’s not all. My plan it to write a series of u-pick farm reviews so that you can have a comprehensive guide to all (or at least many) of the u-picks around Alberta. Unfortunately, I simply won’t be able to visit as many farms as I would like.

Here’s your chance to be a guest blogger!

I’m putting the challenge out to each one of you to visit a u-pick farm, take lots of pictures, and write a review on your experience. When you’re ready to blog, email me (via the new ‘contact me’ page), and I’ll give you instructions on how to get your article posted. So head out to your nearest u-pick, bring along your carmera, and join me in making Alberta’s most comprehensive u-pick guide.

Yes, it’s true.  I’ve been eating haskap berries this past week. Not bucketfuls, but small handfuls anyway. At this point, only my Cinderella variety have ripe berries. The others are still coming. It’s interesting to note that there are far more berries on the Cinderella variety than either the Berry Blue or Blue Bell, but the Berry Blue plants have grown probably two or three times as large this year.

None the less, there are berries out there and some are ripe. Most of them are quite tart, though I may be rushing things in the way of ripeness. My measure of ripeness has been to let them get a dark purple color, then to give a slight tug on the berry and if it pops off easily, then it must be ripe. If it wants to stay attached a little longer - I let it stay.

I never did get any netting put over them, but I don’t think the birds have discovered them yet. We’ll see how long that lasts…

This spring I had quite a few leftover seed potatoes. I hated to waste them, but I had no other places I could plant them. Then I got an idea. But first, let me give you some background…

Last spring I dug out a good chunk of sod to make way for a hedge. I threw all that sod in a pile out in the pasture. By this spring it had all decomposed into lovely soil. In fact, I had used scooped out some of the dirt for my raised beds earlier.

So now with extra seed potatoes and no place to plant them, I decided to just dump them at the base of my sod heap (where I had scooped out some soil earlier) and kick some dirt over top of them. (There was a pile of old hay nearby, so I threw some hay on a few of them to see if it would make a difference.) If they grew, great - extra potatoes for me! If they died, well, no big loss.

Since then, I’ve done nothing with them (no water - no weeding). I went out to the pasture to check on them this afternoon, and what do you know! Potatoes were growing. And they looked pretty good. They weren’t even covered in weeds! They looked… well, like this…

Needless to say, I was impressed. So I will continue to neglect these potatoes and see if, at the end of their life, they will yield me any freebies.

This year I tried something new. I had heard rumors of other people doing it, but I didn’t know of anyone around here trying it.
So this spring, when I planted my potatoes, I didn’t plant them. Instead, I just dropped ‘em on the ground in a somewhat straight row. No digging. No shovel involvement whatsoever. Kinda like this…

Then, after I had them all layed out, I covered them all with about eight inches of straw, like this…

Then I waited. And waited. And now, about a month later, they look like this…

So what do I hope to gain by growing potatoes in straw like this? Well, two things actually.

#1. Less weeding

Thus far in the month that the potatoes and the weeds have had to grow, I’ve only had to pull out about five thistles that have popped through. These have been extra easy to remove because the root goes through the straw and is easily pulled out. Plus, no prickles under the straw either.

#2. Bigger Yield

Last year when I regularly watered my potatoes from the time they flowered until the end, I got the biggest potatoes I had ever grown. So the theory goes, if the potatoes are mulched, the soil won’t dry out nearly as fast. Thus even if I don’t water regularly, my yield will be increased because I won’t lose my water to evaporation. But that part’s still just a theory - I’ll have the proof one way or the other this fall. So stay tuned!

Update: June 22, 2008

And lest I forget…

#3. Easier Harvest

Rake back the straw, and there are all your plump, CLEAN potatoes - what could be easier?

Update: July 16, 2008

Check on the progress of these straw-grown potatoes…

This evening I took a walk around my yard with my little girl and my camera. We planted a few potatoes in an old dirt pile (for lack of garden space and having extra seed potatoes), planted a couple of cucumbers and transplanted a few tomatoes (left over from Grandma’s greenhouse), caught a frog and watched a giant beetle, and through it all - took lots of pictures. So here are a few highlights - at least the ones that were in focus…

The Garden

Our journey started in the garden where the peas are starting to pop up. This is the spot that was lawn last year, so I’m thinking it may be a bit grassy/weedy this year.

Our raspberries that we transplanted last year are coming along.

The sunflowers have made their appearance.

The squash is a little nervous about showing it’s face.

My pumpkin, hit by frost on May 26th, may actually recover.

The Yard

The mosquitoes are out enjoying the blossoms of my Ethel Pink Mayday.

This ladybug posed for us on the tip of a Tiger Lily.

We quickly snapped this picture of this bumble bee before it buzzed off.

The Pasture

These buffalo beans grow all around this area.

These shooting stars are scattered around the wetlands.

None of my close-up shots worked very well, but these little purple wildflowers sure looked pretty - even the dandelions seemed to fit in.

Well, I hope you enjoyed seeing these pictures almost as much as I did taking them. Oh wait, let me show you one more. It’s my favorite, but I’m biased…

I took a talk around our yard today and was pleased to notice that my haskap plants were covered in little green berries.

It won’t be long before I put up the netting around them to protect them from the birds. Man, am I excited to eat a big bowl of these things in a few weeks!