Potatoes

I love to dig potatoes in the fall, turning over the soil on a sunny day, gleaning from the rich darkness the white or red jewels. Oh, so poetic. But it is like finding treasure, those yellow fin and reds and you know of course how to find the new potatoes to cook with your peas in the spring? You find the flowering plants and reach carefully beneath, sort of like reaching beneath a hen for a newly laid egg. I've done that, the egg is warm, the hen cackles a bit--and the potato plant has all these tiny potatoes growing along the roots, they can be snapped off and the plant will continue to grow. New potatoes are the size of a plum and when cooked with new peas, ah, what a treat. I used to make a sauce of cornstarch and water and salt and blend it in with the cooking water--always I use a minimal amount as to not waste vitamins--and when creamy, salt and pepper to taste. I could eat that now, new potatoes and peas for breakfast, add an egg, viola, I'm in Heaven.

Soon,

Flower

Gloomy Morning

Well, I really am having trouble letting go of my almost-ex-husband. So what does that have to do with gardening? I'm not sure, but there's all that mint that has trouble letting go of the soil and water, all lush in the corner of my garden plot. It's so tenacious, the roots traveling underground, new stems coming up along the runners. In the woods around here, when a cedar tree falls, it becomes a nursery log and new trees sprout in it's composting trunk, so the new trees grow in a row. So sweet. As far as a fallen marriage goes, I guess new parts of me are being forced to grow along the fallen parts. Each part of me has to break down, turn to compost and then regrow something new. The part I'm working on now is letting someone else have him. Ooh, that bothers me. But everything is impermanent. The garden teaches me that. Plants have a short life cycle. Although I do have a Hoya that is 32 years old. I've carried it from one residence to another. Funny how things work out. Something that seems permanent, isn't.

So the garden rules summarized:

1. A plot cannot be left unattended for more that two weeks. (Oops!)

2. No weeds pulled and left in the garden.

3. Conserve water.

4. Rocks go in rock pile.

5. Weeds go in compost pile.

6. No pets and keep tabs on children.

7. Weed-free and looking neat please.

8. A plot not maintained for more than 30 days will be re-assigned.

9. Fencing within plot borders only.

Etc.

Here's the grandbaby. I'm feeling better now. Ciao!

Letter from the Parks Department

I received the letter today, explaining community garden rules. One of the rules I noticed as I quickly scanned the list is--do not leave pulled weeds in your garden. There is a huge compost heap next to the tool shed, which I've dug some very nice compost from, but really, pulled weeds aren't much different than other mulch, and can be used on the paths between lovely rows of beans or peas. I'm a girl who follows the rules, you can probably tell this, I mean wearing pearls to hoe the garden--sheez, what is more proper. I'll catch you up to speed when I finish the pleasant reading matherial. Until later, Ciao.

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