Here's a summertime gardening update

Last week some of the grandchildren came over to help us dig potatoes. They also helped us plant a few raised beds to cowpeas. Our favorite variety is the California pinkeye purple hull. We prefer them for fresh eating and for putting up in the freezer. The day before, Linda and I had driven over to Sleepy Hollow store to pick up a small bag of pea seed. Everything was ready when the grandchildren came the next day.

I always enjoy watching the grandchildren dig potatoes. First, they helped me pull all the dead and dying potato plants to get them out of the way. Then, they followed along behind me as I turned the soil over with a pitchfork. The potatoes seemed to just boil out of the ground as I turned the soil. As the children dug around looking for new potatoes, they sometimes would locate a large one buried deeper in the soil. You could see the excitement on their faces as they struggled to dislodge the potato from its resting place.

This year, we had a number of pretty big tubers. I guess that is because of the depth and richness of the soil in our raised beds. The soil is quite mellow and, because we don't walk in the beds, it doesn't get compacted. Of course, being mostly made of compost doesn't hurt either. At any rate, potatoes have done well in our garden these first three years, but then potatoes seem to be one crop that most anyone can raise with some degree of success. The bottom line seems to be that raised beds make growing potatoes easy and digging them a breeze.

Once we had the potatoes dug, packed into boxes and tucked away in the garage, I raked the bed level in preparation for planting peas. Annie, Laila and Landon planted pea seed in (fairly) even rows. I showed them how far apart the peas should be and asked them to leave the seed alone until all the rows had been planted. Then I came in behind them, pushing each pea seed a couple of inches down into the soft soil. Afterwards, I drug a rake upside down across the beds in order to smooth things out again and to fill up the holes.

The grandchildren found poking holes in the soil a lot of fun and took part eagerly. Meanwhile, Linda was busy pulling up a couple of beds of bunching onions that had died down. I decided to rake those beds level too, and we continued planting peas until the seed ran out. We ended up planting four raised beds to cowpeas. We already had one bed of cowpeas which Linda had planted earlier. The plants in this bed are just beginning to bloom, so I will be picking peas before you know it.

We are getting a good supply of tomatoes from the garden now but, for some reason, the plants are dying from the bottom up. I haven't been too interested in trying to save them since we have volunteer tomato plants scattered around in several beds. I think we got our first tomato this year on the second or third of July, which is late for us, but better late than never. We are thankful to be eating fresh tomatoes from our own garden. Linda and I have been enjoying eating bacon and tomato sandwiches for a couple of weeks now.

We have four varieties of peppers planted, all of which are producing fruit. The Scotch Bonnet and Serrano peppers are too hot for me to eat raw, but I think they will make some good pepper sauce this fall. We have been eating the other two varieties (whose names I forget) on salads and with other meals.

Today, Linda grilled some fresh sweet corn from the neighbor's garden, together with cucumbers, potatoes and boneless chicken breasts. It was awesome even if it was the first time she had ever used my grill. I accused her of getting up in my grill, but I realized that the only reason she did was because I was busy hauling topsoil to our lawn. We have been working in the yard this summer trying to get some landscaping done. I have to say our yard is beginning to look better than it did the first couple of years we lived here.

Nothing gets done in a hurry around here, but I reckon that is how it is supposed to be for old retired folks. Happy gardening!

Sam Byrnes is a Gentry-area resident and weekly contributor to the Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Editorial on 07/19/2017