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| Potato Sacks ready to plant! Click any photo to enlarge |
Tammy brought the SPIN kids out to the garden for the first time this season! They were happy to see familiar faces from past summers on the new posters on the “Doghouse.” We admired the new raised strawberry structures while we picked a few ripe berries to donate. Then we tackled the potatoes and peppers, both donations from generous community members. THANK YOU!
Peggy from Bergmann’s Greenhouse in Stillwater donated seed potatoes for our grow bag experiment. We planted pink new potatoes and purple potatoes with gnarly-looking eyes in orange grow bags and burlap coffee bean sacks. Then we covered them with a few inches of soil and placed them at the end of our garden walkways. As the potatoes grow their foliage we want to add more soil a few times to the bags to keep the new tubers hidden away from sunlight which turns them green and spoils their flavor. We shall see if the type of grow bag affects the potato growth. 
Steve from Hugo Feed Mill also donated some funky and fun peppers, tomatoes and giant kohlrabi. The SPIN kids and I planted many of the peppers with fun names such as Fish Pepper, Chocolate Cherry Pepper, Brazilian Star Fish and Hot Sunset, just to name a few! As hard as it was, we pinched off those that had flowers so that the plant’s energy would go into establishing itself and its roots in the ground. No worries...they will flower again!
Finally, the kids tackled weeding the beets, and then we enjoyed some delicious watermelon to help us cool down. I love these kids and the conversations we have! As we discussed, we ALL have gifts and talents that we bring to this world. Sometimes those gifts and talents aren’t discovered, noticed or honored until later in life, and sometimes we feel like some gifts and talents get all the credit! Be patient kids! If there had been a GATE program for gardeners when I was a young girl, I just know I would have found my passion sooner!
Looking forward to your next visit!
- Kathy Luoma--Washington County Master Gardener
