The levee project gave me a brief recess Wednesday morning after
the first truckload of dirt had been hauled over to the levee and the second
load wasn’t due for delivery for a few hours.
It looked like the soil in the
beds had finally dried out enough to plant potatoes. A week ago a wheelbarrow load of compost from
the bin was added to the potato bed, Chickity-doo-doo fertilizer was added and
the soil was spaded over.
Since the soil had a lot of clods I used the little
Earthquake power cultivator to break it up and prepare it for planting. I would have preferred to use a hoe but didn’t
have the energy after already putting 5 yards of dirt into the levee
repair. It looked like the earthworms had
gone deeper into the soil to follow the compost that was spaded down so I don’t
think it was an earthworm massacre.
I’m
trying a different approach to growing potatoes this year. In the past I've planted the potatoes about 8 inches deep and added some mulch later in the season. This year I'm trying a hilling method
with a few little twists. After the soil
was broken up with the tiller I pulled soil to the center of the bed and also to the edge with a hoe. This made two trenches the length of the bed.
The potatoes were dusted with sulfur then set about 10
inches apart in each trench. Here
Kennebec seed potatoes have been set in the front trench. The back trench was planted with Red Pontiac potatoes.
Once the seed potatoes were spaced evenly along the trench I
planted each seed potato a few inches to either side of the trench in a stagger
pattern, using the garden tool shown, which is like a short hoe. Using this tool a little soil was pulled to
the side and the seed potato was set into the dirt.
Once the potatoes were planted soil was pulled from the
ridges at the edge of the bed to cover the trench. That left the ridge of soil down the center. After the shoots are a few inches high I’ll
pull soil from that center ridge over the shoots, making the first hill. I’ve got a large wheeled trash container full
of shredded leaves. Those will be used to
hill the potatoes a second time.
The same day I also planted the potato box that I built last
winter. This is an experiment. The
design is loosely adapted from the Henley potato box but the principle is
essentially the same – some of the shoots can grow out through holes in the side
of the box as the soil or mulch builds up inside. I set the box on the slope toward the pond
and leveled it. About 4 inches of soil
was added and two Red Pontiac potatoes were set on the soil.
Another row of car siding was put on the front of the box
and a few inches of dirt was added to cover the potatoes. From here I’ll mostly add shredded leaves
mixed with compost to fill the box.
The catfish are now actively feeding with the warmer
weather. It looks like there’s a good
mix of large and juvenile fish. They don’t
know it but those free meals have a “catch”. . .
1 comment:
I bet you get good results with your trenching method. Your potato box looks impressive too. I finally got my potatoes in a week or so ago which is late for me. I imagine they will easily catch up and do quite well despite my tardiness. Sounds like you have been working hard on projects lately.
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