Healthy

Potato bin number 4 went in today. All blues. This weekend I'm predicting we'll see bins five and six, with Guadalupe's that are currently benched so as to mature their eyes so they will get a little head start. When these are planted I will encounter space issues, as the very best, most sunny-for-the-most-hours-per-day is along my fence-line I share with the hipsters. I have one space left there.

One potato will go to the side of the house where the potato bins were last year - also a very sunny location. I'm going to have to plant these spuds deep because my remaining bins are not as deep as they could be, wide as all hell but maybe a few inches shorter than ideal. Everyone else will appreciate that the bin is much prettier that last years' cut in half pickle barrel.

Size may not matter, the rule is that the growing spuds must be covered and they must have space to expand. The more space the more spuds.  Last year I grew two varieties in two bins, this year I am growing four is six bins. We have Yukon gold, all blue, reds and guadalupe's. The reds are early season, the yuks and guadalupe's mid and the blues  very end. So end that the last batch might end up needing to be harvested by Broskey and Alphagal.

I was digging in studying the  spuds progress and lo and behold we do have shoots and leaves! Tiny and undeveloped but working hard. I was getting concerned because last year I went with a school of potato growing that said "don't bury them! leave them on the surface and cover them as they grow!", I was able to watch even the earliest growth and it was comforting. The idea being that you will get more come harvest this way and while its kind of like mounding, its easier.. This year I used this method with two of the bins and went with  the school that says "bury them under six inches of dirt! you'll get more come harvest this way!" with the others. The idea being that mounding is a pain. The problem being you have to wait for results, this is not comforting. The textbook method of spud planting it to plant them in a 6-10 inch ditch and add dirt as need, ultimately, you have mound of dirt, its important to keep adding dirt as to keep the baby potatoes covered. An uncovered potato turns green and becomes toxic. I planted one in the actual earth and have heard nothing from it so far.

When I wasn't peering at piles of dirt, I took Dogger to the Vet for her annual. The vet said she feels as good as she looks. Good coat, good ears, clean teeth, good heart beat and lungs and her diet is working. I put her on diet food lat year and she's lost eight pounds. Now I need to settle on a maintenance serving for her so that she still doesn't gain she also doesn't lose. She also came up completely worm free, heart and otherwise. She is also now street legal  as to parvo too.

She was a champ. There was a couple there in the next room with a teeny puppy who was suddenly very ill. The vet took the puppy away and you could hear it screaming from the backroom. It turns out the puppy as young as it is, is a bit of a drama queen about getting his rectal temp taken - to which his dog mommy replied to the vet "Well, he is kind of a baby". I felt so bad for them, and the vet they had possessed the bedside manor of a snake "Yeah. Little guys like him go  from just fine to circling the drain really fast" if it was me she has said that to I would first ripped my dog from her arms and then decked her. Sensitivity is key and she was emotionally tone deaf. which is why that vet is never going to touch Dogger, ever.