Thursday, October 8, 2009

Most Reliable Crop...

Several years ago, I went to the local grocery store looking for something a little different to prepare for a side dish to go with dinner. In the produce department, I found red and blue fingerling potatoes.


They came in itty-bitty mesh bags with probably no more than 10 potatoes in each bag. The sign next to them proclaimed that they were "on sale," 2 bags for $6. I was completely appalled. For $6, I could buy a BIG bag of potatoes and eat for a couple of months.


I really wanted the fingerling potatoes, though, so I bought them. I made pasta salad as a side dish that night and planted them in my front yard in the flower bed the next day. That fall, we had a wonderful crop of red and blue fingerling potatoes. The following year, I made space for potatoes in my regular garden and planted a few of the (now sprouting) fingerlings that remained in the kitchen. That crop did poorly, but I had a few volunteers in the front flower bed again. Each year, I would dig up the potatoes from the flower bed, certain that they had all been removed only to find more growing during the next gardening season. Here is a photo of this year's volunteer crop:



I expect to dig them up this weekend. I think that I got my money's worth all of those years ago. They are like the gift that keeps on giving!

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