Magic and Mayhem

Yesterday for part of Jack’s kindergarten we harvested potatoes.  As far as Jack was concerned we were digging for treasure though!

The kids really had no idea that I had planted two batches of heirloom potatoes in our neglected perennial garden last summer.  It was all piled with dead grass and leaves to hill up around the potatoes, so they’ve been growing away in secret right next to the children’s swingset for months now.

When I gathered Jack, some hand tools and an old pot and headed to the garden, he didn’t know what to expect.  I raked away the leaves and grass, dug down a bit, and called him over.

He was so surprised to see our very own potatoes scattered in the dirt right below the surface.  He happily raked and dug and searched for treasure with me.  He was delighted at how tiny some of the potatoes were (smaller than a marble in some cases) and all of the kids want to microwave those tiny baby taters for very miniature meals. 

We talked about potatoes being part of the roots and we looked at various bugs and grubs we came across.  Jack wanted to plant more potatoes but we talked about seasons and how it’s too late this year to plant things like potatoes because of all the sun and heat they need for a pretty long time.

We’re going to dig some more and see how many we missed today.  Jack is already planning how many potatoes he will plant in his garden next year.