Okay so this is my first real effort gardening and I'm not sure about tons of stuff. I noticed earlier today that the potatoes were flooded because it had, again, rained at night a significant amount. I hadn't loosened the spigot at the bottom of the tub because of course I hadn't done that important thing I should have done with it raining all the time...
So, the plants got flooded. I undid the spigot and it drained a lot of pretty nasty smelling water.
All the stalks are bent over and many leaves are cupping up which is probably not great. I added some potting soil to try and get some moisture out of the top layer but I am not liking what's going on.
ALSO. I didn't know that you're supposed to cut the flowers if you want production of spuds over production of seeds. That's like, a duh moment now, but hey 1st year gardener here havin' fun with it (not really atm, this is sad for me). I guess blight can creep in as the immune system of the plants weakens but I think the main issue right now is that they were just stewing in water. Hope the tatoes aren't nasty now as a result too :(
So I'm going to cut the flowers off and pray that the stalks dry out and get right with their plant God again. Taking mental notes about this experience.