New Potatoes

This year, more and more community gardens are trying potatoes, and all of us are getting better at growing them. This year's cool spring has helped.
I haven't been paying all that much attention to my potatoes. They had been looking a bit sad, so I quit hilling them up after a couple of times. Yesterday I decided to take a look in one raised bin. I realized that I still had two plants out of the four small plants I started with. I dug around the largest one and was amazed to find about 6 pounds of the most perfect red potatoes. They were packed so closely together that they all have a nice compact shape and really easy to dig out. The insides are so creamy and white, and they have such a fresh, earthy flavor.
I took two smaller potatoes and buried them in another bin I rarely water. I need to figure out how to keep these small potatoes healthy until next winter, when I can plant them again.
Over the weekend, I planted 4 sweet potato and yam plants, so hopefully they will do as well as the white potatoes.

Tomatoes!

My first tomato seedlings are up, and they sure are cute. I am not usually that big on getting the very first tomato. I take my time and wait for our evenings to warm up and all the spring crops to be harvested.
Many years I overwinter volunteer tomato plants taken from the garden after fall plantings. But this winter, I got caught by surprise with an early frost and lost all the tomato plants.
This year I am trying the Red Siberian tomato, and not only is it supposed to be the earliest, it can handle cold temperatures during our spring. I got really great germination on some fairly old seeds, and am looking to trade some seedlings for other varieties when the hotter weather arrives.
So many community gardeners are getting into the heirloom tomato craze and have ordered a crazy amount of varieties, all suitable for trading.