Potato Patch Tour, Continued

This is a squash bug. Why he's hanging out in the potatoes I have no idea. I planted my squash late and they are just starting to sprout. I'll have to keep a vigilant eye on them.


The icky slug. I had these real bad at one point. I mustered up my courage and actually picked them off and dumped them into my soapy water bucket. It was hard getting the nerve but once I actually touched them it wasn't any worse than cracking an egg. Slimy, but so what? I'm not rushing to repeat the experience though.


A good guy! I avoid spraying if at all possible because I'm hoping some good guys will get established in the garden like this ladybug. Last year the only good guy I had was a garden spider. This year I have ladybugs and I saw one mantid.


I never really thought about it, but until I grew potatoes for the first time last year I didn't know they flowered. This is a sad example of a potato blossom but it's what I had. Potatoes aren't grown from seed, though. Although the potato plant flowers, to my knowledge the seeds are not used. Potatoes are grown from other potatoes (called seed potatoes, but they're really just plain old small potatoes). The potatoes or potato pieces are buried about 4 inches deep. The eyes sprout and become the green plants you see in the potato patch. After the plants turn yellow and fall over, you dig the potatoes out of the dirt with a pitchfork or garden fork.