Spring / Summer Vegetable Garden

First Purple Majesty Potatoes

A few weeks ago I decided to pull up some of our potatoes that were dying back, and also get a salad out of the garden - something I've been neglecting to do all winter.  I pulled up one the purple potato plants and I was surprised at how small the tubers were - and how few.  I also pulled a couple of red potatoes and we didn't seem to be as many as last year.  After getting some lettuce from the garden and making a salad, I was disappointed in the taste - it was very bitter and "stemmy" (as opposed to "leafy"), if that's a word.  It was pretty late in the season - some of the lettuce was beginning to bolt - grow a stalk and flower.

I thought I was off to a less than great start this year when it came to harvesting our vegetables, but things have turned around a bit.  I have pulled more potatoes and they're looking better, and we're starting to have good luck with our summer garden - we're picking squash daily right now, tomatoes and peppers are coming and beans and corn are right behind them.  What I haven't had a lot of success with right now has been cucumbers and watermelon, but I think I know why, at least with the watermelon.  The seedlings have been shaded a lot by all of the potato plants, and it's been significantly cooler this spring that others - I think some of these summer vegetables need a little more heat to really get started.  I have noticed the watermelon starting to grow more, but I'm still waiting on the cucumbers.  I'm always experimenting with new ways of growing things and sometimes this is what happens.  You live and learn!