Fenton Friday: One Potato, Two Potato

 

This week I dug up the few Potato plants I had planted. It was not a huge harvest -- enough for a meal for two (or one hungry gardener).

In that space I will sow a few rows of Radishes and Carrots after this weekend's rains are done.

We had an early frost scare earlier in the week and the edges of some of the Basil plants look like they got a bit zapped, but overall they are fine so I plan to pull them in a week or so and make a BIG batch of pesto to be able to freeze a bunch for this winter.

The rows of Lettuce are growing well as are the Broccoli seedlings -- both are under a covercloth and thank goodness for that as we definitely have a rat problem at the community garden now. There are rat bait traps placed all around the perimeter and one dead rat has been laying on the sidewalk outside our side gate. I am refusing to clean him up as I took care of the last two animal carcasses at our garden. It is someone else's turn this time. 

I blame increase in rats on a couple things, mostly that COVID caused the streets to be emptier and several of the local restaurants to be closed, giving the rodents both motive and opportunity to move in. Hoping the hawks an owls I have seen around our neighborhood catch up with them soon.

In more pleasant news, I harvested more Okra and Tomatoes this week. We are having our harvest gathering for the local soup kitchen this Sunday and my plan is to pull up the tomato vines and pull anything ripe or green on them to share with that collection. I expect to have a good amount as they are still producing very well.

What are you harvesting in your garden this week? Any rodent reduction tips?

 About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 8th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.