03 May 2010

Potatoes, finally

I was beginning to think I done something radically wrong. Maybe I planted them too deep. Or upside-down. Maybe that week I waited from the time Jean and Nick gave me the sprouted seed potatoes was too long, and the sprouts had died.

Then this morning I went and inspected the potato patch. Finally, they have come up. I had no idea how long it should take for potatoes to come up. Again, patience is the key.

This is a terrible picture — it's a potato plant — but it's
so gray and dark outside that my camera can't cope.

Unfortunately, the weather has turned carrément froid — downright cold. The weather forecaster used this expression this morning: « Ça caille ! » The verb cailler means "to clabber, curdle, clot."

In other words, it's freezing outside — liquids are starting to gel. It's also gray and windy, and late yesterday afternoon we had sleet, or rain with ice pellets in it. That gives you the idea... We might have to turn the heat back on.

Instead of falling leaves, we have falling flower petals.
Strong winds blew most of the blossoms off the
ornamental prunus tree over the weekend.


Again, on the weather report earlier, they were saying that it feels like we had our summer, and now it's autumn. It's not true, of course, but last week was sunny and hot. As I've noted before, the weather here in the Loire Valley is seldom boring.

7 comments:

  1. I guess that's what les "Saintes Glaces" is all about -- the days around May 11.
    Here in Nogent, it's cold and windy, too.

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  2. The spuds are looking good, Ken!
    Now you have to do what seems completely unnatural and illogical and earth them up, ie cover them with soil (just). The first time I did this I thought it couldn't possibly be right and I would never see my little potato plants again - but they soon reappeared.
    You could try this link: http://www.allotment.org.uk/vegetable/index.php
    These people say earthing up is particularly important if there's a risk of frost.

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  3. Good luck with the spuds! It's always fun to follow your plantings. I enjoyed learning about the origins of the word charcuterie,yesterday, too :)

    Judy

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  4. Good luck with the potatoes, Ken! I'm enjoying my first crop that I planted right around Dec. 1 and didn't see come up until February, long after I gave up hope. I blogged about it here: http://www.chriscob.com/blog/index.php/2010/04/potato-surprise/

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  5. Hi Chris, thanks. Just left a comment on your blog topic about growing potatoes.

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  6. I noticed that France has been colder during the past week than Montréal.

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  7. Starman

    We had snow Last Tuesday and Wednesday . Now it is above 20C but very windy and grey. patches.

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