"The Ants Go Marching...!"

 Last week I decided it was time to dig up the sweet potatoes in the blue bin.  This was one plant which came from a start our neighbor J gave to us, maybe in June.  I put a bunch of brush and compostable things in the bottom of the bin then filled it with dirt.  In went the sweet potato plant.  

At the point in the summer when I planted the sweet potato start there was another big bin on top, so I placed the start on the side.  After a month or so, when I saw how many feet of runner and leaves were growing, I pulled the top bucket off and put it into the garden chair to give the potato more room to grow.  At that point I also planted quite a few carrot seeds.  (Sadly, most of the carrots died in the heat of summer.)

Digging up the sweet potatoes became an adventure!  After pulling off the vine I started digging into the soil.  I had pulled out the first big beautiful potato when I felt  a bite on my wrist and just brushed at the spot...and kept on digging.  I pulled another very nice sweet potato then a lot of small to little ones.  During these digs I felt more bites.  When I reached to brush off the
stinging creature I notice it was an ANT!!!  At this point  I had several more bites on my left wrist, top and bottom, and another one on my right hand.  And they were all ants.  I guess I have had my first experience with fire ants!

They really did sting when they bit, but it was not so bad.  After all, I HAVE birthed five babies...

The next day the bite locations were little mountains.

The third day the bites were filled with nasty pus.  Icky.

The fourth day there was some kind of black dot inside the largest spot. REALLY icky!!! I could not take it anymore and, after swimming a cool sixteen laps (my best day yet!!!), after the shower I just brushed against the biggest one with my towel which immediately took off the top layer of skin and deflated the mess.  Now, with open skin, I have to worry about infections.  If I never write another word, well, my hand fell off, or something...!

In the meantime, here is a picture of the sweet potatoes that were harvested:

Pretty exciting to be able to grow sweet potatoes here in our garden.  Dear One has volunteered to go look at the bin and see if the ants have made that bin their new home.  If so, I will probably take it to the dump, bucket and all.

When I decide to harvest the in-ground sweet potatoes I will be more cautious.  I will wear rubber gloves with rubber bands around the wrists!   I am so glad I felt the need to wear gardening gloves for the first job!  It could have been so much worse.