When the kids were all at home I used to plant and store quite a few potatoes. One year I had a lot more than we could use before they got soft and sprouted in April. I picked out a couple bushel of the best ones, put them in milk creats and buried them a couple of feet deep. I put a piece of plywood over the creats and mulched the area well after I filled the hole. I dug them up in the spring and they looked pretty much like they did when I burried them. They did sprout quite fast after I dug them but they lasted until the baby potatoes were ready in July. I've done it a few times since with similar results, I expect if there was one bad potato in the lot that they would all rot.
What's Growing in the Garden
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Good way to store them.
About the one bad potato... An extra benefit to leaving them in the ground is any tubers that are infected, will rot and dry up in the ground before you dig them for storage. Additionally, the skins of the potato will naturally "harden off" and they will store better and resist pathogens better.
Yup I wait quite a while to dig mine, usually after we have had a frost in September. Wait for a nice sunny day dig them in the early morning and let the sun dry them out until afternoon.
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Just a couple minutes ago, heard a noise outside my bedroom window, got a flashlight out and spotted a fat coon scampering down one of our juniper bushes. It had pulled all 4 of the decorative cups off the hummingbird feeder and sucked it dry. Assuming the same one has been digging up flower pots and digging holes around the house.
The mulberry and raspberries are done, but they've been eating the wild black cherries (could see the pits in a big black pile that was left in the middle of the deck). Probably having a hard time finding "good" meals as the corn is just now starting to tassel and won't be ears to raid for a couple weeks.
They've also started digging up the floor in the shed.
I usually just let them be, but when they start getting too familiar and causing damage it's time to act.
While I was typing this they came back.
Goes to show you how brazen they are. Shining a light at them from 3 ft away didn't scare them, only left when I opened the window and yelled at them.
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Brother and I have trail cameras around the yard to watch the deer and we see racoons, half a dozen, all the time. I've got one feeder left that I take down every night an put in a bucket on the porch. Weigh the lid down, too.
Suspiciously, one of the racoons caught lead poisoning the other morning
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Well Tim, I'd say time to make raccoon stew or one of your famous holiday meat rolls and snack sticks.
Cool photos Tim. Raccoons sure can be destructive little devils and too clever for their own good. We had june beetle larva in our lawn in St Louis and one day I noticed a pretty wide section chewed up, looked like pigs had got on it. Turned out to be raccoons digging for the larva. Spraying to get rid of the larva solved the raccoon problem.
Our spotted ground squirrels have had their litters. Yesterday I counted 7 of them under the bird feeder. I don't mind them much but they are diggers and if they start digging holes around the house or anything I'll get a trap. The owls and hawks aren't doing their jobs.
Our spotted ground squirrels have had their litters. Yesterday I counted 7 of them under the bird feeder. I don't mind them much but they are diggers and if they start digging holes around the house or anything I'll get a trap. The owls and hawks aren't doing their jobs.
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You are far too tolerant of theft and vandalism my friend.
I just picked another bucket (3 Qts?) of thornless blackberries. I wish the front side yielded as much as the back. The row runs N-S and the front side gets full sun after 9-10A. I got it pretty cleaned up before the fruit started to bear, but only produces about a third of what the back does. It was choked full of those weeds I posted about.
Is there a morel to this story? Should I let the front get full of weeds too lol? Seriously, I have a roll of black netting. Would it be to my advantage to make a shade screen to protect the vines from overhead sun? That question also applies to my Alderman peas. Could I shade them to keep them from burning up. Or would black netting just draw more heat? Naturally I keep both well watered and mulched.
In the foreground of the picture is a cheap $3 cherry pitter I picked up at WM. I did find the NorPro one at Rural King, but after reading the reviews, it may go back. Seems the plastic breaks easily and there are jams and requires a lot more manual action than there's suppose to be. I'll try the cheapie first. If it doesn't work, then I'll switch to the other.
Plus I don't like being stuck in the house to pit the cherries. I do a lot of garden work out under the shade tree while listening to the game like my Mom and Dad use to do.
Is there a morel to this story? Should I let the front get full of weeds too lol? Seriously, I have a roll of black netting. Would it be to my advantage to make a shade screen to protect the vines from overhead sun? That question also applies to my Alderman peas. Could I shade them to keep them from burning up. Or would black netting just draw more heat? Naturally I keep both well watered and mulched.
In the foreground of the picture is a cheap $3 cherry pitter I picked up at WM. I did find the NorPro one at Rural King, but after reading the reviews, it may go back. Seems the plastic breaks easily and there are jams and requires a lot more manual action than there's suppose to be. I'll try the cheapie first. If it doesn't work, then I'll switch to the other.
Plus I don't like being stuck in the house to pit the cherries. I do a lot of garden work out under the shade tree while listening to the game like my Mom and Dad use to do.
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That has just changed. The line has been crossed.