This Spud’s For You!

We had mix results on The Farm this year, mostly because of the damn animals eating everything they could get their furry little lips on. The cucumbers, peas and carrots all ended up being a lost cause and the weeds quickly took over their beds.

We tried our luck with potatoes this year. Neither one of us know a thing about potatoes but we got a little guidance from good old Google and figured we would get a little something from our potato plants. The other day when Bill and the boys were out in the garden cleaning up they decided to check out the potatoes and see if we’d have any to enjoy.

Man we hit the jackpot with the potatoes! As Bill pulled the plants from the ground it was like a potato bonanza, each plant yielding more than the one before. Within a half an hour we had a five gallon bucket filled to the rim with fresh potatoes. There were some BIG ones too!

This isn’t even a quarter of our haul

I have to admit, I’ve been very stingy in sharing my potatoes. I begrudgingly gave my mom six or eight and I refuse to let anyone else have them now that I’ve tasted them.

That’s right, they are the most delicious potatoes I’ve ever eaten. Bill fried a few up with some onions, olive oil and seasoning and they were melt in your mouth yummy. We even got Cameron to try some and he LOVED them.

I’m looking forward to homemade chips and fries, maybe even some hash browns. Of course we’ll be frying some more up for dinner tonight!

The potatoes are by far my favorite thing from the garden this year.

What is your favorite thing from your garden this year? Did you get an unexpected yield like we did?

Ladybugs: a gardening FAIL!

Last time, I told you about the organic pest control we were trying out this year. We followed the directions, we set them free after sunset. Why? That was supposed to keep them from just flying away.

I thought it would work. As we set them free they didn’t fly, they stared looking for someplace to hunker down for the night. COOL!

Check it out, they’re finding a place to hide for the night.

I thought they would be happy on The Mommyland Farm, lots of crops potentially means lots of critters for them to eat. It’s a nice place. If I were a bug I’d want to live there.

Look, they were so happy they were making sweet ladybug love.

The next day…Not a ladybug in sight, alive that is. That’s right, the only ladybugs I could find were DEAD! The kids did see a few flying around in the backyard. So they either died or skipped out on the job.

It was a sad day on the farm. The only ladybugs I could find were dead and being eaten by the bugs they were supposed to eat. It was like a bad buggy soap opera out there.

Bill swears that he sees them in the garden. If that’s the case they must hide when I come around.

Where did I go wrong? Why were the ladybugs such and epic fail?

What was you biggest gardening fail?