We chitted the spuds on the windowsill at home and hardened them off before bringng them to the lottie for the planting ritual. This ritual is a little different than most folks here— most folks here plant their see potatos in hills, we plough trenches and then make a hole in the bottom of the trench and place the seed potatos in that. Rolling-back the mulch layer and raking the soil level is easy enough, but ploughing the trenches and getting the little spuds into their holes without disturbing the hills is a fiddly and unbalanced job. A few weeks after the planting, they were up! This foto shows the technique well, you can see how deep they were planted in those trenches. Another two weeks and they were ready for their first earthing-up. I pulled out the old hand plough again for the job. It works a treat with the foliage being lowish, but ss they begin to grow into their adult stage they will have to be earthed-up with a schoffel as to not damage the leaves and open the door to our bane, Phytophthora. Half way through the job: Job done and that little chore is sorted. Now, it is a question of watching, watering (maybe) and waiting until we can take that first peek at the new spuds—such a delight that will be is all goes well. We have planted the Harlequin, Jazzy and Chèrie.
Sjoerd …This time of year potato salad is on the menu and French fries….some potatoes have less starch than others. There’s so much variety for cooking with taters…
@Sjoerd, thank you for showing your potato garden. It looks like a work or art! My helper is doing the potato growing this year. They're doing well, but I'm keeping out of it. Do you fertilize? All organic or something else?
Thanks for the tutorial Sjoerd. I love potatoes too! I bet yours will produce well. Question for you: This year I'm growing yukon gold potatoes. The directions said they shouldn't be planted in a hole, they are determinant and only produce early, but just one main crop. Does this sound plausible to you?
Pac, you are too right about all the varieties of potatoes. It is a real science here, there is a potato for every wish…but you have to know what is what. Daniel— I really hope that our spuds will produce well. We are having an unusually wet beginning of the season. They look good now, but too much rain is not a good thing. I worry a bit. I pre-add rotted stall manure and a goodly portion of compost, Disrupt the soil surface (woellen) so that it begins to go into the soil, I cover it all with my mulch and in the spring, I roll the mulch back and dig the trench. That’s it. Cayuga— You know, I have grown Yukon Gold potatos, I planted them the same way I plant all potatos. They performed well. As for the info you quoted: I wonder what they meant by not planting the seed potatos in a hole. Did they offer an alternate suggestion? …or did they mean that you should plant them in growing bags. How did you plant yours? It sounds right that you only get one harvest. All spuds that I have ever planted have only one harvest because when you harvest you lift the plant, roots, tubers and all. That is the end of the plant’s life. It is an early potato, so you will be able to lift them before the Phytophthora strikes (hopefully). We always try to grow earlies for this reason. Please keep us posted on how they go and how you like them.
Thanks Sjoerd. The directions I read said not to hill them up because they won't produce more that way, they are determinant rather than indeterminant and don't go on producing tubers if they are deeper. I certainly don't know, but I think what I will do is hill half of them up & half not & do a comparison. What do you think of that?
That sounds like a great trial, Cayu. You know, every gardener has to do things the way they find best…and the best decisions are made after investigations and trials. Go for it, mate !
Sjoerd always looking foreword to see more progress throughout this season of your mega harvest from your veggie garden. And more to come.
Progress is slow with this cool, rainy weather…but progress is progress. I can’t wait to try that first new spud.
