- Thread starter
- #58
Lazy Gardener
Super Self-Sufficient
And tell me, please???? What was your impression of the sweetness, texture and carrottiness of the different colored ones???? Is carrottiness really a word?
GOT POTATOES!
- Thread starter Lazy Gardener
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #62
Lazy Gardener
Super Self-Sufficient
I strongly suggest that you abandon the trash bags. Taters like cool soil. Dig a trench, bury your seed pieces, then use your bunny hay to deeply mulch them. Potatoes are heavy feeders, so... if you don't have enough natural fertilizer, I suggest that you use a granular or liquid fertilizer of your choice. Keep the soil moist. Taters don't like it very dry.
farmerjan
Super Self-Sufficient
Why not raised beds? You can continue to improve them with the bunny hay as the mulch on top and the potatoes will set alot near the top. especially if it is so hard underneath that they can't put roots "down"..... That would help to keep them cooler on the ground, and you will be making better use of the soil you are creating as it will stay in one place.... not like in a big garden that you till and walk on some and plant in some.... even just something that is 12 inches deep will support the potatoes if you mulch HEAVY on top....
I am really surprised at the weeping willows..... the ones that I am familiar with require alot of moisture.... they mostly grow near wetlands/swampy ground or along the edges of creeks and streams and lakes/pond.
I am really surprised at the weeping willows..... the ones that I am familiar with require alot of moisture.... they mostly grow near wetlands/swampy ground or along the edges of creeks and streams and lakes/pond.
- Thread starter
- #69
Lazy Gardener
Super Self-Sufficient
With your caliche clay (I have no experience with that!) You might trench down a couple of inches (to help hold any water that does go into the RB), before building your RB. RB serve a number of useful purposes: concentrating your soil building efforts in a smaller area, building over rocky, clay or other areas that can't be improved without a LOT of materials being brought in from off site, or over areas where the water table is high, or there is a lot of flooding rain fall. Our natural soil is: heavy clay with lots of rocks. Since we live in an area that most likely had a lot of glacial activity in the past, some areas may be totally studded with rocks and gravel, other areas will be beds of clay. I'm blessed to have outside input of sandy loam in my garden area. Even so, I do some raised beds there, b/c they heat up earlier in the spring, and the beds help me to focus my energy on soil improvement, and containing plants in a certain area. I tend to ALWAYS crowd my plantings. RB also prevent soil compaction.
Again, I have no experience with your soil or climate, but I suggest that you plant some areas that are destined to be future garden beds with succession crops of green manure. If you have any livestock animals, look up Greg Judy and his wonderful videos on "Mob Grazing". If I'm guessing right, all you have right now is bunnies? If that's the case, just use what you got. Bunny poop and hay. If you have access to any farms with hoof stock, bring in some of their used bedding. Just be sure their feed hay is harvested from "Herbicide free" pastures. An other wonderful brain stretcher is Paul Gautsche (? spelling) and his Back to Eden style gardening. Then, there's Lasagna Gardening (Patricia Lanza). Her technique is just what you need. Good soil building won't happen in a single season. But, this year's efforts will improve next year's efforts.
Even though your move to new property may not happen right away, it's not too soon to start building the soil there. You might even consider leasing some or all of it to an other farmer for mob grazing to improve that land.
Again, I have no experience with your soil or climate, but I suggest that you plant some areas that are destined to be future garden beds with succession crops of green manure. If you have any livestock animals, look up Greg Judy and his wonderful videos on "Mob Grazing". If I'm guessing right, all you have right now is bunnies? If that's the case, just use what you got. Bunny poop and hay. If you have access to any farms with hoof stock, bring in some of their used bedding. Just be sure their feed hay is harvested from "Herbicide free" pastures. An other wonderful brain stretcher is Paul Gautsche (? spelling) and his Back to Eden style gardening. Then, there's Lasagna Gardening (Patricia Lanza). Her technique is just what you need. Good soil building won't happen in a single season. But, this year's efforts will improve next year's efforts.
Even though your move to new property may not happen right away, it's not too soon to start building the soil there. You might even consider leasing some or all of it to an other farmer for mob grazing to improve that land.
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
One other interesting thing to note about some store potatoes....sometimes the commercial farmers will plant a root crop such as potatoes so as to clear out the heavy metals in the soils from using commercial fertilizers for an extended period. The root crops uptake such things from the soil making it able to grow their other, usual crops better.
So, essentially, they are using potatoes, carrots, etc to clean their soils and we are eating the heavy metals contained therein as a result. Pleasant, huh? No guilt on their part at all at offering such crops to the public for consumption, as it's all just money to them.
I don't seem to be able to feed my potatoes at all, as when I do, they turn out all tops and no crop. Even just a light layer of my chicken compost seems to produce these 5 ft. long vines that are beautifully green and blossom beautifully....but have very few spuds under them.
Be wary of accepting seed spuds from other people, thinking they would be fine to plant. I did so from my brother one year and have had slugs in my garden ever since...I had forgotten him mentioning his HUGE slug problem he got when he put a truck load of mushroom mulch on his garden one year.
I usually get my seed spuds now from an organic source and they produce very well. I've settled on Red Pontiacs as my tater of choice these past few years, though those Pinto taters are so lovely I wouldn't mind trying them. I've tried Yukon Gold with poor results and Kennebec usually does well here but seems to get scab for me now.
In this area, the two types that do consistently well for most growers are Kennebec and Red Pontiac, so when you search for seed potatoes, those are sometimes the only ones you'll find, especially in bulk.
I grew up till gardening and we'd till thoroughly, make a trench, dribble in 5-10-10 fertilizer, drop in the spud piece and cover over. We'd hill them well and keep them hilled until they were too big to properly hill then let them be.
Nowadays I use mulch entirely, no tilling at all. I just layer in mulches, let them compost down all winter, sink the spuds into the mass until I hit bottom, then leave them be. We don't get potato bugs here but Jap Beetles sometimes get on them...they are too large by then for it to matter. Good yields from that method if I don't use too much chicken compost or manures. I no longer use commercial fertilizers like we used to ....sometimes epsom salts, lime or sulfur powder, soapy water for insects and such.
Good thread, LG!!!
So, essentially, they are using potatoes, carrots, etc to clean their soils and we are eating the heavy metals contained therein as a result. Pleasant, huh? No guilt on their part at all at offering such crops to the public for consumption, as it's all just money to them.
I don't seem to be able to feed my potatoes at all, as when I do, they turn out all tops and no crop. Even just a light layer of my chicken compost seems to produce these 5 ft. long vines that are beautifully green and blossom beautifully....but have very few spuds under them.
Be wary of accepting seed spuds from other people, thinking they would be fine to plant. I did so from my brother one year and have had slugs in my garden ever since...I had forgotten him mentioning his HUGE slug problem he got when he put a truck load of mushroom mulch on his garden one year.
I usually get my seed spuds now from an organic source and they produce very well. I've settled on Red Pontiacs as my tater of choice these past few years, though those Pinto taters are so lovely I wouldn't mind trying them. I've tried Yukon Gold with poor results and Kennebec usually does well here but seems to get scab for me now.
In this area, the two types that do consistently well for most growers are Kennebec and Red Pontiac, so when you search for seed potatoes, those are sometimes the only ones you'll find, especially in bulk.
I grew up till gardening and we'd till thoroughly, make a trench, dribble in 5-10-10 fertilizer, drop in the spud piece and cover over. We'd hill them well and keep them hilled until they were too big to properly hill then let them be.
Nowadays I use mulch entirely, no tilling at all. I just layer in mulches, let them compost down all winter, sink the spuds into the mass until I hit bottom, then leave them be. We don't get potato bugs here but Jap Beetles sometimes get on them...they are too large by then for it to matter. Good yields from that method if I don't use too much chicken compost or manures. I no longer use commercial fertilizers like we used to ....sometimes epsom salts, lime or sulfur powder, soapy water for insects and such.
Good thread, LG!!!
- Thread starter
- #12
Lazy Gardener
Super Self-Sufficient
I am destined to keep trying to grow carrots until I get it right. B/C I LOVE carrots. Could be happy to make my meals out of carrots, green beans, potato, and broccoli! Meat is totally optional to finish out my dinner plate, but I do love my cheese!!!!
- Thread starter
- #20
Lazy Gardener
Super Self-Sufficient
Yes. You wait till the sprouts are about 4" long, then remove them. Root them in a glass of water, then plant them in soil. Sweets do not do well in cold climates. Not many gardeners even attempt to grow them here. But... I need a challenge (most likely followed by a failure!) to keep gardening "new" to me.
By planting only the slips, you limit the likelihood of your plants picking up a virus or bacterial infection from the initial tuber.
By planting only the slips, you limit the likelihood of your plants picking up a virus or bacterial infection from the initial tuber.
- Thread starter
- #24
Lazy Gardener
Super Self-Sufficient
Potatoes don't like it hot. That may have been your problem. That plastic tub may have acted as a heat sink and overheated the soil. Do you have a place to grow them in the ground? Next go-round, I suggest that you grow them in the soil, and give them a good heavy mulch. I plant my seed potato in a trench, pull the soil over the pieces. Then, I wait till they sprout. As they sprout, I heap the mulch on. I use old hay, grass clippings. That mulch wants to be at least 6 to 8" thick by the time the plants bloom. Of course, I'm only familiar with growing potatoes in zone 4! Zone 9 is a whole other world! They can be planted here: 3 weeks before last expected frost. I suggest that you contact your county Agricultural cooperative exchange office. Usually associated with a State college system that has an agricultural program. You can do so on line by doing a google search. They will most likely have articles pertaining to growing potatoes (and any other crops!) in your planting zone. They will also have lots of articles regarding food preservation and animal husbandry. You can read them at your leisure on your computer! You can also get your soil tested (for a nominal fee) through them. Our tax dollars pay for this service, but few folks are aware of the many services they offer.
Ask: what breeds excel in your zone, and when the optimum planting time is. There are also early, mid and late season spuds. I suggest you choose an early season spud, and plant it to take advantage of your cool growing season. They like it cool, yet the foliage absolutely can't tolerate a frost.
Ask: what breeds excel in your zone, and when the optimum planting time is. There are also early, mid and late season spuds. I suggest you choose an early season spud, and plant it to take advantage of your cool growing season. They like it cool, yet the foliage absolutely can't tolerate a frost.
- Thread starter
- #36
Lazy Gardener
Super Self-Sufficient
Here's an article that states that a RIPE butternut will store 2 - 3 months, if cured and stored properly.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-store-butternut-squash-1389335
I've had good butternut store almost till Christmas. This year, the season was so short, that I had to pick all of my squash before it was ripe. It still may develop some sugars in storage, but the storage life will be cut drastically. How to tell if a squash is ripe, and ready to pick?
The first tendril on the vine just past the squash will be dried. If the squash is prone to such color changes, the bottom of it, where it rests on the ground will also turn yellow or orange. Butternut: a green one will have faint green veins running down it under the skin. A ripe one will be uniform buff colored with no green.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-store-butternut-squash-1389335
I've had good butternut store almost till Christmas. This year, the season was so short, that I had to pick all of my squash before it was ripe. It still may develop some sugars in storage, but the storage life will be cut drastically. How to tell if a squash is ripe, and ready to pick?
The first tendril on the vine just past the squash will be dried. If the squash is prone to such color changes, the bottom of it, where it rests on the ground will also turn yellow or orange. Butternut: a green one will have faint green veins running down it under the skin. A ripe one will be uniform buff colored with no green.
Mini Horses
Sustainability Master
My butternuts lasted well into Spring, inside, here. They were still good! Into summer they did get a tough pithy and I chopped and fed to chickens. But lasted about 7 months inside!. Stored in a plastic basket that had holes all around, covered with light weight cloth for light cotrol, stored on upper lever of steps to 2nd floor. So, cool & dark, air flow good.
