There are three slips. I don't know what kind, it was a grocery store organic SP.
potatoes under straw
Wow! I have 7 slips to plant. What medium did you use to plant in those tires?
Plain ole dug up garden soil amended with coir and compost.
BTW the tire is sitting around a bubbler which provides bottom water and I have a small tube going to the top providing a gallon of water per day. Next year I will put a PVC pipe, with holes drilled in it, down the middle of the tire, then put the small tubing down the PVC pipe so that water is going to every level.
Nice job rtl.....my tater growing project went bust this year. I'm switching to only growing flowers. :~{ It's been a bad gardening season for me. Waahhhhhh.
Never give up...never give up...never give up Mary. Gardening teaches about life. Some years are good and some not so good. I had some not so good this year too but I learned what to do for a better next year. The problem is there is not so much to eat those learning years. The great thing is we have another gardening season ready to start in a couple of months. In my opinion the fall season is much easier in this blast heat of a desert we live in. Build your soil this summer and the veggies will come... I recently pulled up those tomatoes you gave me last fall and the stalks were over two inches thick. Never have I seen such thick stalks. Those tomatoes grew where I burried EM soaked kitchen scraps and the bed was topped off with compost from Ken Singh.
Yeah, MaryMcP,
Never give up...never give up...never give up! This was only one season and, even though it may seem to be a bust, didn't you learn a lot? As a matter of fact, if you share what you learned, WE will all learn and benefit, and may be in a position to offer suggestions on making NEXT season a better one for all of us.
From the posts I've been reading, it looks like a lot of growers didn't get the kind of harvest or have the kind of success they've had in the past. I'm wondering if there's something going on with the seed stock or the climate changes that had us all waging war MUCH earlier and harder with the buggies this season.
What went wrong may not necessarily have been all your fault. I've learned to work with the conditions, the temps, my DDH, the fauna, and even the flora (like stray vines that want to just choke my tomato vines!). When I had my very first veggie garden in Spring 2007, I grew indeterminate tomatoes bigger than the palm of my hand, and lots of 'em -- very first time! This time? I'm barely getting cherry tomatoes!
Go with the flow, roll with the punches, ebb with the EBs ^_^.
"There's always tomorrow!" (Famous quote from a girl who knew how to wear a pair of curtains!)
Carol Burnett said that?
Scarlet O'Hara
I think it was, "I'll worry about that tomorrow".
"Tomorrow is another day."
Carol Burnett wore her curtain well.
Jayne (rtl....) and gymgirl, Sure I can keep trying on the tomatoes and potatoes. Those have been the biggest disappointment. But I need more hours in my day! Or, here's an idea - I could scale back the number of plants I undertake. Jayne knows just what I mean. ^_^
I use a Parks BioDome for seed starting and it has 60 plugs.....somehow I always feel like I have to fill all 60 plugs with a seed. They are so tiny when the process begins.
Thanks for all the encouragement!
And the NAME THAT FAMOUS QUOTE award goes to CAJUNINKY!
Sorry LouC and Tilton, but it was Carol Burnett who wore the curtain!
I loved her show. I could still watch reruns for hours on end. They were really a funny cast.
Carol Burnett and Gilda Radner -- the two funniest women on the planet, hands down!!!
The slugs are eating my tater leaves yp. Any suggestions? They are not bothering anything else.
I'm ba-a-a-a-a-ck! Since I originally started this discussion, I thought I'd post some photos of my potatoes-under-straw this season. The discussion has been great, but the extremely wet spring & summer so far sure delayed my potato planting (by about two months). Anyway, they are now all tucked away under the straw and growing well.
The first photo shows the rows of potatoes that are sprouting, with the seed potatoes barely covered with soil. To start, I tilled up the area for potatoes, hoed very shallow trenches, laid the potatoes in the rows about 18" apart, and lightly covered them with soil. In this photo, you can see that they've sprouted (and rooted). Some gardeners don't even cover the spuds with soil at this stage, but it's easy and I think they get rooted in easier.
Photo 2 This is a close-up to show just how shallowly the seed potatoes are covered with soil. They are ready to lightly hill up with soil (see next photo).
Photo 3 Here, I've done the second hilling-up of the rows. Some gardeners simply put on the straw (or leaves, sawdust, etc.) at this point, but I like to make sure there is plenty of loose soil for the roots to get established. This is also a good opportunity to hoe or till the few weeds that have sprouted between the rows.
Photo 4 This shows how the potatoes are surrounded with straw. I like to "tuck" each sprouted tuber first, then spread straw between the tubers, and finally between the rows. I plant the rows close enough so that I can spread straw everywhere, eliminating weeding and tilling.
rtl - isn't Ken's compost great? Your SPs look awesome. I barely planted mine 2 weeks ago - lol. It was definitely an afterthought...
Kelly
P.S. MaryMcP will soon be known as MaryMcGrow for all the fine veggies you'll grow this fall...
Photo 5 Finally, here's a shot of the whole potato patch covered with straw. The straw covers everything, and is thicker on top of the potato rows. There are three varieties of potatoes here: Yukon Gold, Irish Cobbler, and Pontiac Red. Isn't it interesting how their vegetative growth is different? Also, notice that there are some gaps in the rows where some tubers weren't as far along sprouting as others in the row. Not to worry though, as they will come right through the straw. You don't need to be concerned about wind when covering with straw. It's deep and tangled enough to not blow away in a storm, especially after getting wet, but loose enough for the sprouts to grow through.
I've found that this method almost entirely eliminates potato beetles and slugs. For some reason, they don't like the straw. I've heard that potato bugs hide in the soil and get lost with the straw (???). Who knows, but I rarely see any! And the harvest is so-o-o easy. With the little hilling-up I do, some potatoes form in the soil, but very close to the surface. The rest form right on the top of the soil. It's especially easy to harvest new potatoes. I don't have to uproot the whole plant, leaving them to finish growing the crop.
I'll post more pics later in the season.
This message was edited Jun 16, 2009 4:29 PM
Nuts, our whole barrell rotted....it had good drainage...will have to try in the ground the next time....Deb
We dug about 30 pounds yesterday. This is in a raised bed about 36" high. All were covered with at least 15" wheat straw. This was May 19th and by yesterday the plants had died down. Yukon Gold and are they ever good eatin'. Saved the smallest and will attempt to grow again. Shall I plant now or wait until it gets colder in October?
I tried planting in June or early July last year. They didn't make it. I'm saving my little ones for January, hoping they survive the summer.
Wow, Christi! You're getting some great harvests out of your little plot 'o land!! I'm so inspired! We're going to plant taters in the fall when it cools off some. We started gardening too late this spring to do them.
Hit the send button too soon! Meant to add that according to the planting calendar I have from the AgriLife program through Tarrant Co. extension service, the planting date for Irish potatoes is July 25-Aug 10 (Potato, Irish seed pieces). Guess this would include red potatoes as well??
I would think so. Got these Yukon Golds at the local Ace Hardware. Planted in mid March, around St. Pat's day, I think.
Yes, my Yukon Golds were TAAAAAAAAASTY.
Stephanie, I believe you are fairly close to Sheila's home. I would be honored to have you and Sheila and any and everyone visit any time it is convenient to you.
Yep! Sheila lives just on the other side of I-20. We're probably about 2 miles away, if not less.
She has been here twice. I am 5 miles south of I20 just off of 35E. 1/2 mile from 35E.
Sheila said it is only a little of 30 minutes. Circumstances prevented us from coming to her brunch and I was soooo disappointed. We are retired and I am here 99% of the time.
Can't wait to have all of you visit my garden. By the time you left, I would probably have emptied the beds. Nothings better than to share.
Christi
Success with my first time trying to grow potatoes!!! I finally got up the courage to dig around under the straw and found some edible size new potatoes....they were delicious!
I'm growing potatoes under about 15-18" of loose straw and I have potato bugs!!!! :-O What links I have checked out are not encouraging. Has anyone found a way to get rid of these things!!!
HELP!!
Glenda
Mine are all harvested and mostly eaten. I planted marigolds between the rows and did not have a bug problem. Don't know what to do after they are already there.
Glenda,
I only had a couple of potato beetles this year (first year for planing potatoes) and also had about a foot of straw on the beds. I have had a TERRIBLE time with bean beetles this year. Even the stalwart purple beans succumbed to them. So, next year I will be inter-planting beans and potatoes. A friend who lives a couple of blocks from me did that this year and has had no problem with either bean beetles or colorado potato beetles.
Elise
One potato, two potato, ya'all know how it goes! Of the three containers of potatoes I started this one did the least. Only one of the three "hills" grew, the wet weather my have gotten to the others. It matured quicker and the top died back a little early, so... Curious me had to look. I was pleasantly surprised by the results. :-) Ric
The other two containers are deeper and although slowing down are still growing. I'm pretty sure the one I gathered is the Kennabeck, and approx. two pounds of flawless potatoes from one plant. Ric
A few of the good things about containers is, it's easier on the back , conserves water, I should get multiple years use from my medium (pro mix and wheat straw) and pest control is easy especially with my pest removal crew. Ric The crew>
We really got some heavy weather since last Thursday. Parts of Lancaster County reportedly got 5 inches, there was widspread local flooding. Every thing got plenty of water and some of the garden got knocked down which should be easy enough to repair. I'm waiting to see if this last wet has any effect on my loaded tomatoes, hopefully not. I'm looking forward to fresh tomatoes but their ripening will banish the pest crew from the garden till after frost. LOL I'll have to see if we can't find them some tasty bugs in the back flower beds. Ric
