Happy Labor Day! Here are some of the fruits, well vegetables, of my labor this summer. I've never grown sweet potatoes and they were surprisingly easy. That is, once I figured out where to find them!
Lest you think I know a lot about gardening, let me prove you wrong. I had one of those really stupid moments and my friend Sandy was there to witness me, in all my moronic glory. She and I were out for dinner one night and I was talking about my sweet potato vines. I relayed how healthy and vigorous the vines were, but every flower just seemed to fade out without producing any veggies! I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. She looked at me incredulously, as if I had suddenly grown two heads. She very quietly asked me if I looked under ground (I'm sure inside her head she added, "you idiot"). Slowly the light bulb came on...of course...sweet potatoes are POTATOES!! They grow under ground because they are a root vegetable, it says so right there in the name. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I knew this fact, but not ever having grown them and having all my OTHER veggies above ground, I lost sight of this very important bit of information.
Sure enough, I went home and looked at the ground around my vines, instead of gazing at the green plants. It was practically exploding with potatoes. How could I have missed this??!! I carefully dig them up and was rewarded with some "big 'ol whoppers" as my three year old says. They are monstrous! As a thank you to my dear friend for not rapping me on the head in the middle of dinner, I gave her some sweet potatoes straight out of the ground, dirt and all. :)
Oh my goodness, this cracked me up! Bless your heart - you're human after all! ;-) Thanks for the laugh . . .
ReplyDeleteLeilanni,
ReplyDeleteOh my dear, how human and frail I am!!
And you are so southern. Calling me out with the "bless your heart" line. I didn't know Texans did that!