Hey Buddy, Can You Spare a Cranberry Red?

Our fifteen minutes of fame now over -- it's time to move on to bigger and better gardening delights. This is gardening season my friends. Yeah -- I know -- it may not look like it outside -- but the month of April is pretty darn crucial in terms of getting work done. If only Mother Nature would cooperate.

Venus and I are actually behind on the gardening front. At this point last year? Venus had filled up an entire 4X8 bed with two varieties of seed potatoes. By early April? The first sprouts were poking above the soil. We were on our way to a monster potato harvest that year -- and the wife's goal of a Red, White and Blue Potato Salad for the 4th of July holiday was FULFILLED.

This year? Sorry Venus. It appears were out of luck. A range of factors -- some that were out of my control -- will probably prevent an early July harvest this year.

The biggest error -- however -- appears to be all on me. I made the wrong move in assuming that I would find a bountiful supply of seed potatoes when I visited Peaceful Valley Farm Supply in the foothill community of Grass Valley two weeks ago.

Bad assumption.

Oh -- they had -- and still have a good selection of seed potatoes alright. These two bags of "All Blue" and "Colorado Rose" potatoes are evidence of that. At some point -- Venus will be chopping these up and planting them into one of our raised beds.

But -- I was too late to find our personal favorite: Cranberry Red. This is a wonderful variety. Much like "All Blue," the Cranberry Red variety doesn't lose that light red streaky color, even after cooking. Not only was Peaceful Valley out of this particular variety -- I would soon find out that EVERY nursery I contacted either didn't stock it -- or sold the last Cranberry Red spud eons before I called.

What does this mean? It probably means that Cranberry Red won't be a part of our potato plantings this spring -- OR -- it will be planted far too late to produce in time for a "Red, White and Blue" Potato Salad creation for the 4th of July. Don't be fooled. The wife creates a mean potato salad. Add in the colorful display? Suddenly -- you're the envy of every other wife at the big bash block party.

The second key factor in all of this is the weather is just not cooperating this year like it did last season. Don't get me wrong. The weather in April of last year wasn't perfect. We got very lucky when a bed of tomato plants survived a late, warm, April rain. But it was a lot nicer -- and warmer -- in April of last year than it is this year. And next week's weather forecasts are enough to make a grown gardener cry.

But that's Mother Nature for you. I can still remember my mother singing the familiar tune of "April Showers Bring May Flowers" while I wistfully sat inside during the April weekends of my youth -- missing yet another youth baseball game opportunity (I played the position of Left Out).

And -- who knows? Maybe our April lament will turn into a mid-July surprise when we hopefully harvest a bountiful crop of Colorado Rose Red Potatoes? No -- it doesn't retain that "All Red" color (even after cooking) -- but the reviews look pretty darn tasty. The website "Maine Potato Lady" gives Colorado Red a solid thumbs up:

"With Cherry Red as one of its parents, Colorado Rose was bred for high yield and early bulking. Attractive oval red tubers with white flesh are great for those early summer salads or roasting. Resistant to hollow heart, second growth, and bruising. Medium semi-erect plant with purple flowers."

If there's one thing that I've learned about gardening -- it's this: Never be afraid to try something new. At one point in my life -- not all that long ago -- I believed that a potato was a potato and nothing more. They all tasted the same.

Then I grew my own and learned the real truth. Potatoes can be a lot like heirloom tomatoes in terms of color -- taste and texture. All you need is some seed spuds and the urge to create your own, personal, Frankenstein monster in your backyard garden.

Closing Note: Thanks to some fine hunting by Farmer Fred Hoffman -- you can still order Cranberry Red Seed Potatoes through Territorial Seed. Peaceful Valley Farm Supply should also receive a new shipment of Cranberry Red seed stock by mid-April (you may want to call ahead and check first).

Garden Porn

It's that time of year in the Sacramento Valley where a thick layer of frost covers the backyard. You can see the white stuff on the ground, on the grass, covering the planter boxes and most of all: you can clearly see the look and dismay on the faces of our cats who meow plaintively to "turn the warm weather on."

Sorry, no such luck. Old man winter is here. The last of the summer garden has been ripped out. Those colorful rose bushes have been pruned back. The peach, cherry and other fruit producing trees are happily slumbering away. Winter is here.

What is a gardener to do then?

By this time, if you're seriously into the gardening movement, seed catalogs should be arriving in your mailbox by the armful. I'm talking names like Territorial Seed Company, Tomato Growers Supply, Totally Tomatoes, Pinetree Seeds, RH Shumway, Vermont Bean Seed Company, Johnny's Seeds, Seeds of Change and hundreds of others.

In short, it's time to order next year's summer garden. The weather is deathly cold now, but you know that first hint of spring is right around the corner, and if you're not prepared, tsk...tsk....tsk!

If you're anything like Venus and I -- you've got seed catalogs lying all over the house by now. You can find them on the coffee table, on the side tables, in the bedroom and, much to my wife's chagrin, sometimes in the bathroom (hey, sometimes reading material IS a necessity!). These catalogs come with brightly colored pictures of harvests that you can only dream of at this point in the gardening process, and all sorts of interesting possibilities for next summer's garden.

I wish I could take credit for this comparison, but I can't. It actually came from a grower in Oklahoma of all places, when she compared seed catalogs to pornography magazines. And, after thinking about it, she's right. We leave these things lying about the house for months at a time. You can even find last year's seed catalogs on the coffee table, right underneath the catalogs that arrived in the mail this year.

And, much like porn magazines, there is also the strong desire to read every catalog from cover to cover. The pictures excite you! What's new here? What about this? Oh my goodness, this would look nice in the garden, wouldn't it? And, don't overlook this or that or the other thing!

To put it short and sweet, like porn magazines, garden seed catalogs are terribly addictive. You are compelled to order this new bush bean, or perhaps the latest in cherry tomatoes, or even that funky looking all-blue potato that retains its color, even after cooking!

Unlike regular porn however, I think that garden magazine porn is a bit more healthy for the soul -- not to mention the stomach.