potato procrastionation



(potato demo at the bell gardens)

not only did i procrastinate in planting my potatoes, i seriously put off telling you about it. 

it's not that, i don't love you, my dear readers, but with the warm weather, comes busy busy busy days. 



so, once again, bye bye t.v., hello dirty clothes and filthy feet.

traditionally, st patty's day is potato planting time. luckily i held off a bit, 'cus shortly thereafter a big 4 inches of snow was dumped on my garden. also, the bell gardens did a potato planting demo where i scored a few more seed potatoes for the rock bottom price of 5 potatoes for $1. i planted two large red pontiac, three medium kennebec, and about 6-7 of the variety i got at work, which i believe are some sort of yukon gold. since the potatoes from work were fairly small and had already sprouted huge eyes, i planted them whole. the other potatoes i cut into pieces with at least 2-3 good eyes on each piece. i let them hang out on the kitchen counter for a few days so the cut edges could scab over before planting. this should help prevent the potatoes from rotting.

since i don't feel like having to "hill up" the potatoes in big mounds, i'm  growing them in reused coffee sacks. you can buy different containers and "potato bags" online, and i've heard mixed reviews on the burlap sacks, but these babies were free!!! yep, i said free. all you need to do is call your local coffee roaster and ask what they do with their coffee sacks. one roaster here keeps them in a big pile until folks come around asking for them, and will give you as many as you want. hello!!!

so, here's the little method i came up with for my first try at potatoes. since i only had bags of compost, and straight compost would be to rich for the potatoes, i needed to scavenge some dirt. so i dug a small hole in the garden, and mixed that dirt with about equal amounts of compost. then, i put some big rock in the hole hoping to accomplish two things; provide extra drainage for the sack so the potatoes don't rot, and allow for good air circulation so the potatoes will "air prune." meaning, that once the roots reach the wall of the burlap, instead of circling around like they would in a hard walled container, they will hit the dry air and stop growing. hopefully, that will then stimualte the grow of secondary roots for an overall well-developed root system. the more roots you have, the more water and nutrient uptake by the plant. 

i rolled down the sides of the burlap sackstill til there was about 4-5 incehs at the bottom and it looked like a doughnut. i filled the bottom with about 2-3 inches of my dirt/compost mixture, placed either two large or three small potato pieces in each bag, and covered it with another 4-6 incehs of dirt.

and there you have it folks, my first ever row of potatoes. the potatoes need to stay covered and in the dark, as exposure to light will render them green and icky. as the plants grow you need to keep them good and covered with about 6-10 inches of the foliage exposed. this is where the beatuy of the sack comes into play. as you keep adding soil, straw, or leaves to cover the potatoes, simply roll the sack up as you go. once the plant has flower blooms, you can carefully go digging for "new potatoes," or wait till two weeks after all the foliage dies back for larger tubers. again, here is another glorious attrubite of the sack. instead of having to go digging with a pitch fork for your potatoes, simply cut down one side of the sack and watch all your potatoes fall out. at least, that's what is supposed to happen. fingers crossed!!

to not waste any space in my garden, inbetween the bags, i am going to plant little rows of lettuce, japanese greens, and spinach. that way, the bags and potato plant leaves can help shade the delicate greens from the summer heat. now, all i need to do is sew up a granny inspired summer garden dress and apron, put on a big straw hat, and come up with a name for my farming alter ego. any suggestions???

p.s./garden note to self: potato planting took place on 4/5/11. the first three bags are red pontiac, the next two bags are kennebec, and the last three are potatoes from the market.