This week for
Daphne's Dandelions Harvest Monday we collected 4 overwintered leeks for a total of 11 oz. Belle says she'll make potato leek soup... can't wait for dinner!
Speaking of potatoes, today Belle and I more than 10 pounds of them. We got our order from Seed Savers Exchange last week. We went with German Butterball (40 starts) with hopes for storage, Yukon Gold (22) with hopes for flavor, Purple Viking (30) with hopes for beauty and Desiree (32) with hopes for yield.
Last year was our first year planting potatoes. We've learned a lot since then. Hopefully this year will be much better. This time we set the potato starts in the window for about a week to give the eyes a chance to warm up and begin to grow. We also planted our potatoes in the bottom of 5, 6 inch furrows that we'll fill in as the plants grow larger. It seems like the less labor-intensive approach than mounding, but with a similar, perhaps better result.
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| 6 furrows for potato starts in the "tramp" garden. Named for the trampoline above it. |
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| 5 or 6 inch furrow. We'll fill them in as the potato plants grow. |
Our new broadfork made the job very easy. I only had to drag a hoe through the soil loosened by the broadfork to cut an easy and deep furrow. The great thing is, the broadfork gave us 6 inches more of loosened soil below the furrow. The potato plants can easily grow down into the dirt below them. Hopefully, between growing down in the loosened soil and growing up into furrow fill, we'll have the best possible harvest. We've also worked very hard on making healthy soil this winter. We're thinking that will help too.
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| Our tramp garden soil after heavy amendments of chopped wood, green manures and compost. |
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| Lat but not least, today C. James caught a great Brook Trout at the lake all by himself! |
Hurrah for C. James fish!
ReplyDeleteSounds like your potato patch prep went well. I am always happy to have the potato patch planting up done for the year - big part of our annual garden food production but is really the hardest planting process of the whole year.
I hope so. I am a little worried about the way I split the potatoes. Thankfully Belle pointed out that I should have at least 2 eyes on every potato portion. I think that will help.
DeleteGood luck with the potatoes. I'm not planting any this year. Sweet potatoes yes, but not the Irish type.
ReplyDeleteThanks Daphne. Good luck with the sweet potatoes. I can testify because of last year. They are worth it!
DeleteGood luck with the potatoes in the "tramp garden." You seem to have a very nice variety that should produce a good yield for you. I still need to source some seed potatoes. I am hoping my local garden and feed store has some.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what you have there, but our local feed and garden store is Agway. They supply us well. I'm hoping you have something like them too! They're a great resource!
DeleteCongrats to C.James on his fish!! Good Job!! I'm sure you enjoyed that soup! Belle is an excellent cook!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like your potato planting went well. Here's to a great potato harvest!!!
C. James says thanks. We actually ate the soup tonight, the tenth, it was delicious! We'll post the recipe on Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard.
DeleteThis is our first year gardening so first year for potatoes. We planted blue potatoes in a deep pot and have a raised bed with potatoes. Red, white and blue!
ReplyDeleteIt remains to be seen what--if anything--does well!
Your leeks are making me hungry!
My Harvest Monday: http://planetpooks.com/?p=4468
Thanks for not pretending. We're potato rookies too! I hope you have lots of potatoes!
DeleteGood luck with your potatoes! I hope you'll have great harvest come fall time :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Jenny. We're hoping for a better harvest this year.
DeleteSounds like your potato planting went well. We are trying a new variety this year which I hope produces well!
ReplyDeleteMrs.Pickles we tried 3 new varieties this year. I don't remember your zone right now, but I hear (from Maylay Desiree) is a good producer. We really have no idea how it will do hear. We'll see.
DeleteI bought potatoes from SSE this year too! All Blue, German Butterball and Mountain Rose. And since the soil wasn't the best in that bed I spent the winter adding leaves, wood chips, coffee grounds and potash to it. Have my fingers crossed!
ReplyDeleteI'm eager to reply! We've done German Butterball before, but not Mountain Rose. Like you, we've bee concerned about our soil, mostly because of the clay. And like you, we've been adding, adding, adding whatever we can find. I hope you have the very best results!
DeleteNice Fish Size Good job C. James. I am fond of desiree potatoes because it is very reliable here. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteWe were thinking of you when we posted Calvin's fish. We'll definitely have to keep a close eye on the Desiree variety. Thanks for the insight.
DeleteYou will be very happy with the results you get from mounding your potatoes. We messed around with other methods for several years before we started mounding. Our production double when we started mounding!!! Last year we had 250 pounds of potatoes!!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your comment, we're going to mound, mound, mound!
ReplyDeleteHope the potatoes do well - I love growing them, the digging is just so much fun.
ReplyDeleteYea, it's very satisfying to be on hands and knees in the dirt... but it is lots of work!
DeleteLooking good. Send that broadfork our way so that I can stop putting off getting our potatoes in the ground! I am just so daunted by the task.
ReplyDeleteI'm telling you! Me too. That tool is a miracle.
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