Happy 4th of July!

Hope you have some fun plans coming up for the 250th birthday of this great country! Whatever they are, I’d love to hear about it! Comment or send me a reply email (only works for subscribers).

It will likely be a normal weekend for me, celebrating low-key with family…and probably spending time with my little spud friends. Yup, the plants are my buddies!

Take a trip with me to the potato patch 🥔🌿

I’m a nature geek

If you were to ask my potatoes who their best friend is, they wouldn’t answer, “Our companion plants.” Nope, they would refer to the tiny human who did the research to help them grow; but not just research…back-breaking work with vintage farm tools and a tiller, with all the prep work done in the fall and early spring. I may potentially be a garden elf! 🧝

This little elf did the work to increase knowledge and put that know-how to good use. Some small mistakes may have been made, but pivoting helped gain a much better patch.

One mistake: sowing lettuce and onion seeds too close together. And they didn’t sprout anyway.

The improvement: Bought fresh lettuce, kale, and spinach and planted them in a single row about 1-2 feet from the potatoes. They too consider this elf their friend, as they were over-watered and/or dry as a bone. Thanks to my efforts, they bounced back and are thriving!

And if your existing onions planted from the kitchen flowered, harvest them immediately! Flowering onions can mean the temperature changes were too drastic and confused the onion. And given that happened out here in the Laurel Highlands, mine indeed did produce blossoms. Fun times!

👕 Keep reading to the end as there’s something cool you’ll want to see

Your resident garden elf has done a lot of digging (literally and figuratively) into proper spud management, such as knowing when and how often to hill potatoes and the right way to water.

Mistake: watering in the evening. I learned recently that cold and moisture create the perfect breeding ground for bacteria and rotting.

Improvement: I water now during the day - and since it’s been raining a lot, I’m letting nature take its course.

I’m including a good article I found that goes more in-depth on hilling potatoes! Told you I do a lot of research! 😉

Organic is the way!

Leaf mulch in the fall is a great way to mix organic matter into your soil. I’ve included homemade charcoal and ashes in addition to using straw, dry grass, and companion flowering plants. While I didn’t use compost, I definitely wasn’t out of options!

This is probably the most budget-friendly and wholesome way to ensure good yield (which I’m itching to see how my potatoes do!). When in doubt, and when the wallet is strained, find the cheapest route and use nature!

Minor mistake in my organic process: didn’t plant my companion flowers early enough, now some bugs got to my potato leaves.

Improvement: Planted fully formed petunias and yarrows to attract good bugs like hoverflies. Yes, hoverflies are your friends and the number one bug species you want in your garden!

If you see your potatoes start to flower, and you want larger tubers, snip the blossoms!

During the writing of this post, I was inspired to create a t-shirt design specifically for gardeners! I had originally intended for these floral motifs to be in a pattern, but upon revisiting them, I figured they would work well as a graphic tee.

My new shop is called Down Home Apparel - I may change it to a more official name depending on whether or not it generates enough business. But “Down Home Apparel” will do for now!

You can view my new shop here on Printify - currently I have just the one shirt and started playing around with more designs.

Listen, for $18, you can’t go wrong treating yourself or that avid gardener in your life! 😄

Next week, we will be exploring life from a cat’s perspective! Each month, I will be featuring one of the cats in a series called, “Through a Cat’s Eyes". Keep an eye on your inboxes for a little kitty surprise! 🐱