Potatoes:

The ground where I wanted to plant potatoes was hard this spring but I had 2 helpers for part of the day.  I strung string so they would know where the beds were.  I asked them to dig a hole deep enough to cover the potatoes about 3″ and about a man’s hand width apart.  The ground was hard, but the weeds had not yet started.  The rows are 32′ long and there are 8 of them.  I needed to plant many potatoes because we didn’t have time to prepare the soil.   So they put the potatoes in the ground and I did fertilize maybe 3 times in the early part.  We planted white, Yukon , red, and blue potatoes, in uneven amounts.   I just needed potatoes for the winter.  When it was really hot, I watered weekly for half an hour each row with drip hoses. We never found time to weed them. The dogs dug holes in the potato lie in and be cool.

I have dug maybe a total of 35+ feet (there are 250 feet of potatoes and some onions) of potatoes and filled 1.5 of the 4 gallon buckets.   It is not easy getting the ground to give them up either.   I cannot get a pitchfork in the soil, how does that bit of soft potato with an eye manage to push into the ground.   And many of these potatoes are very large.

Kennel Quilts:

These are small kennel quilts.  The photo is the front of one and the back of another to better show the minimal quilting.  The people who rescue small animals during a crisis such as floods or fires use many of these in the small kennels.  Finished 12 x 18″ is the only size they accept and are so easy to make.   Cut two pieces of fabric 12.5 x 18.5″ plus batting.  I used an old mattress pad to give it more cushion on these.  Put the bottom piece right side up, the top piece upside down, with the batting on top.   Pin as needed and sew around the entire sandwich minus 4-6″ to get your hand in to turn.  Turn right side out , press, and if you topstitch a bit less than 1/4″, you may be able to catch the opening in the top stitching.   On one I did a big x from corner to corner and on the other, just 3 lines on a diagonal.  The part that takes the longest is choosing scraps that are large enough, but not so large as to waste fabric, and cutting it out.  If you click on the red “kennel quilt”, you will find more information about these.  They are extremely easy and if you don’t sew exactly perfect, the small pets won’t complain.