My new garden continues to produce bounties of beautiful fresh vegetables. Our latest harvest - potatoes!
Yesterday, before a thunderous rainstorm, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, harvested the season's first batch of potatoes. Potatoes are from the perennial nightshade, Solanum tuberosum. As the world's fourth-largest food crop, following maize, wheat, and rice, potatoes are grown from “seed potatoes”, which are certified disease-free and specially grown in nurseries for planting purposes. This season’s “seed potatoes” came from High Mowing Organic Seeds, an independently-owned, farm-based seed company in Wolcott, Vermont.
Enjoy these photos.
Every year, we order a selection of potatoes to plant. This is the first year we planted them in my new half-acre garden. I chose two of the largest beds, filled them with nutrient-rich compost and then when everything was ready, planted our seed potatoes. This photo is from late April. It generally takes three to four months to grow potatoes.
We also carefully select the potatoes we grow, using the varieties that worked for us in years past. This time, some of the varieties include Burbank russet potatoes, dark red Norland potatoes, Elba potatoes, German butterball potatoes, red Chieftain potatoes, Satina potatoes, Yukon gem potatoes, and Yukon Gold potatoes. Here is Ryan preparing to plant the beds.
The potatoes are planted in long trenches that run the entire length of each bed and are about five to six inches deep. Potatoes can be planted in cooler soils at least 40-degrees Fahrenheit. Potatoes perform best in soil with pH levels 4.8 to 5.5. Potatoes are easy to grow as long as they have access to full sun and moderate temperatures.
These trenches are at least one to two feet apart to give the potato plants ample room to develop. Here, Ryan backfills the trenches, fully covering the potatoes at least four-inches. Potatoes do best in well-drained, loose soil, and consistent moisture. Little maintenance is needed from this point – just watering.
Here is one of the potato beds a month later.
By the end of June, the bed is full of growth and green foliage. The potato grows up to 40 inches tall. As the potato plant grows, its compound leaves manufacture starch that is transferred to the ends of its underground stems or stolons. The stems thicken to form a few or as many as 20 tubers close to the soil surface – those are the potatoes.
Here is another photo of the potato beds this summer – so lush and green.
And just yesterday, they looked like this. This is definitely a less attractive sight in the garden, but it is a well-anticipated one because it means the potatoes are ready.
The potatoes are ready once the vines have died back – when the tubers are done growing, and the potato plants have begun to turn yellow and withered. This year, because of all the wet weather, the vines still appear green in many places, but the crop is ready for harvest.
Here is Ryan picking a gold potato – they are all looking great.
It’s important to dig them up carefully, so as not to damage any of the tubers. All these are from one plant.
Ryan digs deep into the ground and feels around for potatoes – potatoes will be slightly cool to the touch.
It’s fun to dig around the soil and find multiple potatoes waiting to be picked. They are not too deep – any potatoes will only be within the first five-inches of soil.
Because potatoes grow underground, it is always a surprise to see how prolific the plants have been. As the potatoes are picked, they’re placed in separate containers or trug buckets by color. Some of them will be medium-sized, while others will be much smaller, or much larger.
There are more than 200 varieties of potatoes sold throughout the United States. Each of these varieties fit into one of seven potato type categories: russet, red, white, yellow, blue/purple, fingerling, and petite.
All of these potatoes were picked within the first 15-minutes. Ryan picks as many as he can before the expected rain – the rest will wait for the next dry day giving them more time to grow.
This batch is brought to the small hoop house next to my head house, where they can be placed in single layers in trays and crates to dry.
Ideally, potatoes should be kept in an environment around 45-50 degrees Fahrenheit. They can be stored in bins, boxes, or even paper bags – just nothing airtight to prevent rotting.
Another tip – never wash potatoes until right before using – washing them shortens the potato’s storage life.
And also, don’t store potatoes with apples – the ethylene gas will cause the potatoes to spoil. In addition, they should never be stored in the refrigerator. We have so many potatoes with even more still in the ground – I can’t wait to try them. I hope your weekend is filled with bounties of delicious produce from your gardens.
The gardens here at my Bedford, New York farm are constantly evolving. I am always looking for pretty and interesting specimens to add to the developing beds. It's always very rewarding to see them develop and thrive.
This week, I received an assortment of plants from Monrovia, a wholesale plant nursery specializing in shrubs, perennials, annuals, ferns, grasses and conifers with several nursery locations across the country. My head gardener, Ryan McCallister, and I, decided to plant Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' on both sides of a footpath leading to my Summer House garden. We also added Ajuga 'Black Scallop' and Brunnera 'Alexandria' to a bed behind my gym. These plants are small now, but they will add more texture and color to the areas as they grow.
Enjoy these photos.
Our latest delivery from Monrovia includes these very interesting ground covering perennials. Ryan loads them on the back of our Polaris off-road vehicle, so they can be taken to their new locations.
The first spot is the entrance to my sunken Summer House garden. Ryan lines up Ajuga ‘Chocolate Chip’ on both sides of the stone pavers. If you follow this blog regularly, you may recall we just made this stone path last spring.
Ajuga ‘Chocolate Chip’ is a spreading, miniature chocolate foliage plant with lacy blue flowers in spring. As these mature, they will create a tight mat of rich, brown color with dark green undertones.
Brian starts by digging the hole at least twice the size of the plant’s root ball.
These plants were going into narrow areas and were already root bound in their pots, so Brian decided it was a good idea to split the plants in half. Here is the root ball of one of the Ajuga plants – all the roots formed a dense, tangled mass that allows little or no space for further growth.
To divide, Brian first looks for the center of the root ball – a good place to divide the plant in two.
This is a Hori Hori gardening knife. It is perfect for many tasks such as loosening soil, measuring soil depth, digging up weeds, and dividing plants.
Once Brian finds the center, he uses the Hori Hori to carefully cut down the middle of the root ball.
Here is one half – still quite full, but now with more circulation between the roots and more room to grow.
All the areas to be planted are given a good sprinkling of fertilizer. Here we used an all-purpose formula with a good balance of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.
Brian uses his foot to measure the distance from the stone pavers to where the Ajuga will be planted.
And then he plants the Ajuga. Ajuga naturalizes easily, spreading by stolons, or horizontal stems that creep along the ground, so be sure to plant it appropriately.
What is so nice about adding Ajuga to the garden is they hold their leaf color and stay attractive almost all year-round.
One can see the nice row of Ajuga lining this side of the footpath. The other side is an exact match. Brian neatly rakes around the plants and then gives them all a good drink.
In the foreground is another variety of Ajuga – Ajuga ‘Black Scallop.’ In the back is Brunnera ‘Alexandria.’ Several of both kinds were placed in a garden bed behind my gym building.
Ajuga ‘Black Scallop’ is a unique perennial in the mint family Lamiaceae, with most species native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and southeastern Australia. It has lush dark burgundy-black scalloped foliage that blankets the ground when mature.
Brunnera is one of the prettiest plants to include in any shady garden. Brunnera is an herbaceous perennial with leaves that are glossy green or in variegated hues of gray, silver, or white.
The root ball of this Brunnera is not as tightly formed as the Ajuga plants, but still needs to be scarified, so the roots are stimulated to grow. This root ball was also recently watered, so everything is darker in color.
Brian plants this in a hole that is also twice the size of the root ball – a good rule of thumb for any plant – and then backfills the surrounding fertilized soil.
Brunnera is a slowly spreading, rhizomatous perennial that is loved for its heart-shaped leaves. I think these will do well here in this garden.
Because the Ajuga has more room to grow in this space, Brian does not divide these Ajuga plants, but carefully opens the bottom of the root ball and spreads out the bottom roots.
Here is how it looks just before planting. Brian will place it into the hole with the roots flaring outward, so they grow in that direction.
Ajuga ‘Black Scallop’ is also known as Black Scallop bugleweed, ground pine, carpet bugle, or just bugle. All these plants are available in the perennials section of the nursery.
These plants will soon develop into bigger ground covering masses. Don’t be afraid to experiment with color and form in the garden – it can always be changed. Do research on a plant’s care needs and always plant with a specimen’s mature size in mind. For anyone passionate about gardening, it’s always so rewarding to plant new specimens and watch them flourish.
I hope you saw my Instagram post @MarthaStewart48. It's that time of year again - the tomatoes are ready!
We started picking our first juicy, sweet tomatoes this week. Tomatoes, Solanum lycopersicum, have long been one of America’s favorite garden vegetables. They are planted in late spring and then anywhere from 60 to 100 days later, those bold red, sun-ripened fruits are ready to harvest and enjoy. And, they’re filled with excellent antioxidants and vitamins.
Here are some photos.
We plant more than 120 tomato plants each year. We always start our tomatoes from seed in my greenhouse. We don’t use any pesticides or chemicals of any kind, so we know we’re nurturing the highest quality plants. I love to share them with family and friends and use them to make all the delicious tomato sauce we enjoy through the year. This season, we also had tomato plants that were gifted to me by a friend and some from one of our trusted growers.
The plants are checked often once they are planted. Brian removes any suckers he sees — those vigorous stems sprouting in-between a “V” of the stem and side branch. He removes the suckers beneath the first fruit cluster so they won’t slow the development of the fruit. It also keeps the plant open, allowing for good air circulation.
By late June, the stakes are put up for the growing vines. If you’ve ever grown a vining plant, you know how important it is to provide strong structures to which the vines can cling and climb. Using teepee-like structures in the vegetable garden is an easy way to support these plants, and to add eye-catching texture to the garden beds. We used bamboo to build the supports. Bamboo is attractive, easy to find, and can be reused year after year.
This plant is already tall enough to wrap around the bamboo.
Here is a view from one end. Brian also secures horizontal bamboo pieces across all the bamboo stakes, which will support them even more as they grow.
Each plant is now carefully propped up next to its designated stake and secured. These supports really help to keep all these beautiful fruits off the ground and free of rot.
Brian ties a simple figure eight knot to the bamboo. I teach all the gardeners and grounds crew members to use figure eights, so the stems are not crushed.
Tomato leaves have serrated, or wavy and pointed, edging along the entire perimeter. Tomato leaves are compound with multiple leaflets growing along a common stem, called a rachis. These leaves are also slightly fuzzy to the touch, which is caused by the trichomes, or multi-cellular hairs, on the plant. Never use chemically treated wood or other material for staking climbers, as the chemicals would likely run off and go into the soil.
It takes about 50 to 90 days for tomato varieties to start reaching maturity. Planting can also be staggered to produce early, mid and late season tomato harvests. In our region, tomato plants do best with direct sunlight all day long.
By early August, we had a good number of tomatoes growing on the vines.
There were tomatoes of all sizes.
Some were even red, and ready to taste.
Brian continues to check the vines every day and lifts up any that are heavy with fruits and touching the ground.
Here is a large tomato, still green, but looking great.
By the last week of August, There were many turning bright red.
Ripe tomatoes are shiny and glossy. And, given a gentle squeeze, should have a bit of “give” to it.
One can can harvest tomatoes as soon as they start turning red, or orange, or yellow, or purple, and then allow them to ripen some more in the kitchen; however, it is also okay to leave tomatoes on the plant. We harvest every couple of days.
The best time of day to pick tomatoes is in the morning, before the heat of the day sets in. This will help them to stay fresh longer.
We also grew quite a few orange tomatoes. Ryan tries different varieties to see which grow best – those varieties will go on a list for next year.
Ryan started picking this week, when we knew it would be dry. It’s important to harvest ripe or almost ripe tomatoes before a heavy rain or a deep watering. Heavy rain, especially when it follows a period of dry weather, is a major cause of cracked and split fruits, so time harvests appropriately.
Here’s Ryan picking one of our sun-ripened delicious tomatoes.
Once they are picked, they are placed on a tray stem-side down. The top of the tomato always ripens last. If a tomato is sitting on its already ripe bottom, as the bottom continues to ripen, it will start to rot. Turning tomatoes stem-side down extends their shelf life.
And here is a photo of our first harvest – trays filled with perfect tomatoes. I couldn’t wait to try them. I already took a few to share and enjoy with my daughter. I hope you all have bounties of sweet and juicy tomatoes as well. Enjoy every bite!
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