First Harvest: Potatoes and Radishes

Recently, Sacramento went through a heat wave and the temperature soared to 88 degrees. I noticed that my container potato plants, which had been towering green stalks, promptly began to wilt, then wither, turn brown, and die. I later learned that potato plants stop growing when the soil temperature reaches 80 degrees.

I was all ready to call it a failure for the year and went out this morning to clear my pots of the carnage. As I dug through the pots however, I was tickled pink to discover small red baby potatoes in each container, some tiny as the head of a nail, others medium sized. The heat may have cut short the growing season, but I still think these tender babies will do well drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with fresh garden rosemary, roasted to a crisp.


The garden at my parent's yard appears to be doing well after a month today, although the onslaught of weeds requires constant attention. We made our first harvest there of ruby red radishes. Now we just have to figure out a good recipe to use them!