Time To Dig Potatoes!

The potatoes have been in the ground since February and it's time for harvest. Our friend Josh helped dig (his first time to dig potatoes.) The harvest was smaller than last year, but the treasure hunt was still as great as always.

NOTE: My little friend Caleb helped do a test dig a couple of weeks ago to see if they were geting ready.

The time was right. Other friends from Santa Fe, Texas brought us some fresh squash, zucchini and South Carolina green beans. We had a feast for supper. Baked salmon patties, and right out of the garden veggies are impossible to beat. Did I mention potatoes? The meal was as colorful as it was tasteful.

I am always amazed at the joy a little dirt and some

friends bring to our lives. We'll plant more tomato plants and squash where the potatoes were.

The quarter inch rain Saturday filled all the rainbarrels and the reserve cans. We should be great for another week.

A New Garden Year

It's a late start and the winter has been brutal. We had several days in the 20's and that's tough on the garden and yard. I planted red & white (kennebec) potatoes on 2/18. Valentine's Day is the best but it was muddy. The strawberries did OK through the cold weather. Some daughter plants were transplanted to fill in the gaps. All in all it should be a good start. We should have strawberries and potatoes on Mother's Day.

I started by adding some wet compost. Lots of it and tilling in in with some fertilizer. Potatoes are heavy feeders and this won't be the last application of compost of fertilizer this spring.

Gardening relieves the pressures of intense days of ministry. What a joy to get to dig in the dirt. It's a great place to pray, think, and refocus. I love to see things grow, especially maturing Christians.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Psalm 90:1

Potatoes were planted a couple of inches deep. As they grow, I will mound compost and dirt higher in the plant so the will make more potatoes.