Anybody have their garden planned yet out for 2019?

[larry_stewart]

I finally finished my 3 gardens. We have had so much rain in the Finger Lakes of New York that I'm running late.
The lower garden has, green, red and jalapeno peppers, carrots, onions, heirloom, beef steak, roma, san Marzano, grape and yellow cherry tomatoes.
The back garden has corn, broccoli, brussels sprouts, watermelon, yellow summer & zucchini squash, cucumbers and celery. I decided to skip the pumpkins this year. Probably regret it come October. Then my herb garden, basil, oregano, parsley, thyme, dill, rosemary, lavender and mint in a bucket. Also trying growing potatoes in a container this year. I have sunflowers also in each garden. Think this will keep me busy.

Sounds like you got your work cut out for ya, in a good way !!

 

[bbqcoder]

Also trying growing potatoes in a container this year.

Try growing one of your potatoes in straw. I did that last year for one of my beds. Planted potatoes in the dirt but then covered it with straw/hay. They grow out of the hay. At harvest time, it was easy to harvest because they were clean without any dirt. I did put a soaker hose in the bed before covering with straw to make it easy to water.

 

[larry_stewart]

Try growing one of your potatoes in straw. I did that last year for one of my beds. Planted potatoes in the dirt but then covered it with straw/hay. They grow out of the hay. At harvest time, it was easy to harvest because they were clean without any dirt. I did put a soaker hose in the bed before covering with straw to make it easy to water.

How deep in the soil did you plant them before covering with straw, and how thick was the straw layer on top ?

 

[taxlady]

How deep in the soil did you plant them before covering with straw, and how thick was the straw layer on top ?

Yes, inquisitive minds want to know.

 

[bbqcoder]

How deep in the soil did you plant them before covering with straw, and how thick was the straw layer on top ?

I put my potatoes in a 4'x4' bed. Put the potatoes on the ground. Covered with 2" of horse manure mulch. I wait for the potatoes to sprout before laying the soaker hose. Then I put straw lightly around the sprouted potatoes. As they grow, I put more straw around the potato plants. The potatoes are growing on the plant above the seed potato.

I use to use dirt and I would kill my wrists digging up the potatoes. I didn't want to use tools for fear of spearing the potatoes.

Try it for a small bed or for a few potatoes. I did it for the first time last year with 1 of 3 beds. I was amazed at the results and the ease of harvesting.

This year, I'm doing it for 5 out of 6 beds.

The horse manure mulch comes from a local farm. It's well composted and is loaded with tiny red worms.

 

[larry_stewart]

I put my potatoes in a 4'x4' bed. Put the potatoes on the ground. Covered with 2" of horse manure mulch. I wait for the potatoes to sprout before laying the soaker hose. Then I put straw lightly around the sprouted potatoes. As they grow, I put more straw around the potato plants. The potatoes are growing on the plant above the seed potato.

I use to use dirt and I would kill my wrists digging up the potatoes. I didn't want to use tools for fear of spearing the potatoes.

Try it for a small bed or for a few potatoes. I did it for the first time last year with 1 of 3 beds. I was amazed at the results and the ease of harvesting.

This year, I'm doing it for 5 out of 6 beds.

The horse manure mulch comes from a local farm. It's well composted and is loaded with tiny red worms.

Thanks for the info.
Ill give it a shot next year ( as long as I remember )

 

[taxlady]

I have heard of people planting potatoes using the hay method in barrels and even in garbage bags.

 

[larry_stewart]

I do mulch with hay, but their primary growth is in the soil ( as. I buried them kinda deep) .

I have done one of those Hay-bale gardens with potatoes, but the potatoes were kinda small.

Ive never done th garbage bag thing, but. I did build a potato tower which was basically layered potatoes/ soil/ hay...repeat... to the height of the tower ( which in my case was about 4 feet). I had a 4 X 8' wire grid which I formed into a cylinder and used it to conain the potatoes, dirt and hay. The potatoes plants grew out the sides. At the end of the season, just kinda remove the wire structure ( or tip it) and dig out the potatoes . Was a space saver and fun to try, but also had smaller than usual potatoes. I now consider it a ' been there, done that' thing. But, Im always looking for new ideas.

 

[bbqcoder]

Was a space saver and fun to try, but also had smaller than usual potatoes.

Did you provide a way to water the potatoes? I wonder if the reason why they were small is because they did not get enough water? This is why I weave a soaker hose through my potato plants before covering it with straw. Otherwise, water has to travel through layers of straw/dirt to reach the roots.

I mostly grow fingerling potatoes (Russian Banana, Purple Peruvian, Ama Rosa, Papa Cacho).

 

[larry_stewart]

Did you provide a way to water the potatoes? I wonder if the reason why they were small is because they did not get enough water? This is why I weave a soaker hose through my potato plants before covering it with straw. Otherwise, water has to travel through layers of straw/dirt to reach the roots.

Definitely didn't , and that could have been the problem.
Truth is, I always over buy plants, seed potatoes.... anytime im planning the garden. Im always afraid I won't get enough, or some will die and I may need to replace with a plant with the same level of growth. Problem is, that rarely happens and Im stuck with a bunch of extra plants, potatoes and no where to put them so I have to get creative.

That was the case with the potato tower. I had like 20 pounds of extra potatoes to plant and no where to put them , so I figured, lets try the tower. I also , when planting potatoes, throw in any potatoes in the house that have eyes on them. My goal was more just to find out where to put them, than perfecting the technique. If I put more effort in the watering system, as you mentioned, I probably would have had a better outcome.

 

[Souschef]

Living in a MHP does not give much room to plant, however, we have managed. Across the front of our home we have Plumeria, Stella D'Or, Fortnight lily, California poppies,Dahlia, dwarf Meyer lemon and a Kangaroo paw plant.
We have a 4 foot by 40 strip of soil on the side of the house and have hydrangeas, Selvia,Sago Palm, gardenia, chives, and parsley.
In back of the house we have 4 tomato plants loaded with ripening fruit, the biggest one so far weighted 10 ounces.

 

[bbqcoder]

Across the front of our home we have Plumeria, Stella D'Or, Fortnight lily, California poppies,Dahlia, dwarf Meyer lemon and a Kangaroo paw plant.

Do you ever dig up your dahlias and divide them? It’s nice that you don’t have to dig them in your area. In my area, the ground freezes too deeply for them to survive. Maybe they might have a chance if I plant them next to the house foundation.

 

[larry_stewart]

Do you ever dig up your dahlias and divide them? It’s nice that you don’t have to dig them in your area. In my area, the ground freezes too deeply for them to survive. Maybe they might have a chance if I plant them next to the house foundation.

Ive had Cana Lillies overwinter next to the foundation .

 

[GreenEnvy22]

Here are some photos of our garden beds from this morning.

In order:

1-Wide shot of garden
2-Carrots/Kale/Spinach/Lettuce
3-various hot pepper plants
4-Squash/zucchini/melons
5-cabbage/rhubarb/strawberries
6-Tomatoes, herbs in middle
7-Cucumbers/pole beans/eggplant/cilantro
8-beets, empty area had rashishes, have now planted more radishes, lettuce, spinach
9-onions/garlic/potatoes/leeks
10-one of the 4 hops plants I added this year.

Grapes also look really good this year, lots of fruit on them.
We've eaten a couple raspberries so far, but most still will be a bit.
Blackberries will be a while.

 

[pepperhead212]

Lookin' great GE22! My greens are almost gone, due to the heat in this area. I just 'tilled the row where my garlic was growing - that's where the fall crop is going to be! Or at least some of it. I may get the soil in that row tested, since I haven't done that for a few years.

 

[bbqcoder]

Here are some photos of our garden beds from this morning.

Great looking beds! How big are they? What is the material you used? For mine, I use 2x8 in 14’ length. I take two boards, chop off 4’ from each, and put them together to make. 4x10 bed.

 

[GreenEnvy22]

They are made from 5/4" x 6" pressure-treated boards, half of the beds are 4 foot by 8 foot and the other half are 4 foot by 10 foot.