Time to Harvest Potatoes

Before weeds are removed

It has been about 10 months since I started working for a public school as the manager. I have learned that I simply had to give up on a significant amount of gardening time. Overseeing 159 kindergartener through second graders is no easy task, and I never know exactly what can happen each day. I have hired a small crew of gardeners to help me maintain the farm every other weekend.  However, I am responsible for all the vegetable beds and fertilization.

We have been experiencing very cold temperature that fell below 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the past couple of weeks. I covered up my passion fruit vines a few times and could only hope for the best as the temperature kept dropping. Today, the weather seems to be back to normal. The sun is out and it feels warm. The passion fruit vines have all survived. 

After weeds are removed

I have unfortunately caught another cold or flu as another outbreak took place in the school. Illness tends to spread like wild fire in the school. As the students become sick, the teachers and administrative staff often all get hit one after another. I was never into taking dietary supplements, but after being sick about every other month, I finally went out and got every immune boosting supplement that I could get my hands on - vitamin C in 1000 mg tablets, zinc, garlic tablets, plus a few others. Fortunately, it's Martin Luther King Jr. weekend so I get to rest for 3 days before going back to the viral incubator.

I took the opportunity today to clear out most weeds in my vegetable beds. The last bell peppers all  died from the frost. The mizuna I planted last year have now self germinated and just grow on their own without any effort on my part. I have been collecting them for salad. The potatoes are now ready for harvesting as all the potato plants are wilted and dying off. They also self propagate year after year with very little effort on my part.

Mizuna and potatoes