Stinkhorns, potatoes, and hail

There were several effects from the two gully-washers I described in my last blog. First, the mosquitoes finally emerged and are making up for lost time. Second, mushrooms started sprouting. Terry called to tell me there was a “dog penis” mushroom by one of the oak trees. They are also known as stinkhorns, but the family name, Phallaceae, suggests that the first common name is more apt. The stinkhorn part come from the usually foul odors that attract flies to disperse the spores.

Stinkhorn

The third effect of the heavy rains was that it gave exigency (a word the English instructors often bantered around in faculty meetings) to digging the potatoes. The potatoes are in the upper garden, which does not flood. The problem is that the rain washed the soil off the spuds, and leaving them exposed to light turns them green and makes them produce toxins. They are nightshades, after all. Don’t get any ideas—mostly the toxins produce indigestion rather than kill a person outright. I’ve never seen a murder mystery in which green potatoes was the MO. And we watch rather a lot of them.

The potatoes were the best ever! Terry estimates 125 pounds. He’s very quantitative.

Potato harvest

The best part was that the Russets were actually big enough to make decent baked potatoes.

Largest Russets we've ever grown

And look at the size of this Kennebec! Terry wanted to be sure to get his watch in the picture for scale. That baby will feed both of us with leftovers!

A giant Kennebec

We have the results of two experiments, one of Jane’s and one of mine. Last year, Jane saved some seed pods from a lavender lisianthus. She planted them way back in December, because they have the smallest seeds EVER, and it takes an eternity for them to get big enough to bloom. Anyway, the first question was whether or not the seeds were viable. Yes, they were. We waited anxiously for the first blooms. Turns out the color was true, but the double (or triple) bloom was not. This is how lisianthus grow with seeds from the catalog. Note all the petals.

Lisianthus from the seed company

The saved seeds just have one layer of petals.

Single blooms of the saved seeds

My experiment was with saving the seeds of the plum tomato that my mother has saved for years. The seeds originally came from Italy through a friend of my brothers. She took me through it briefly last year, but I still didn’t feel quite prepared to do it on my own. Fortunately, it was straightforward. Put the seeds in a bowl, let them rot for a couple of days, and wash away the goo. The seeds sink to the bottom, clean as a whistle. I haven’t tested the viability yet, but I can’t think of any reason they won’t sprout. A seeds gonna do what a seed is meant to do.

Fermenting seeds, left; clean seeds on a coffee filter to dry, right

The sporadic heavy rains continue. Last Tuesday, there was a new addition—hail. Big hail. Quarter sized. While I worried about my melons, I had to laugh. I couldn’t see the hail fall, since it happened so fast, and it looked hailstones were spontaneously erupting from the soil.

And the melons got hammered. Look at the holes in the leaves! The fruits were not damaged, however. Ripening proceeds apace, so all is not lost.

The pullets are getting so big! Just about full sized. Terry calls the white-headed pullet “Miss USA,” because she looks like a bald eagle. Compare her size to the Wyandott hen in front of her.

Miss USA is almost as big as a Wyandott hen

The acorns are still making the deer bold. This one actually came out in the full sun and posed nicely while I took her picture.

A doe headed for the acorns in the middle of the morning

And then there’s the turkeys. These two toms are like pets! They keep looking for sunflower seeds beneath the feeders. Terry, like when Mom won’t serve dessert until the broccoli is gone, has declared that he will not fill the sunflower feeders until the turkeys have eaten all the acorns. The turkeys don’t know this, though, so they keep coming around to the feeder, digging deeper and deeper into the sod. Hope springs eternal.

Two toms looking for sunflowers

The hummingbirds have been drinking the feeders dry as they prepare for their migration. They’ve only got a few weeks left!

Hummingbird bulking up