Sunday
Apr252010
Pohooo-tayyyy-tooooeeee's
Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 5:16AM
Some things in the spring time are almost like ritual rights of passage. For example the fanfare around planting your peas. The first things in that you hope will have a combination of the right elements in the tumultuous springtime weather and start to GROW. They are the harbingers of all things green. There's the starting the seeds inside and the first time some of them come out to sheltered sunshine. And then - there's potatoes.
Cut seed potatoes (batch 1)
So simple - really no thinking... you get good seed stock and set them out in the light for a couple of days. When the little eyes seem like they are waking up - grab a knife and start cutting. One or two eyes to a chunk. Then let the chunks sit for a couple of days with the cut side up so they can scab over.
"Straight" potato furrow
Then it's off to the gardens to put in your furrows. Straight, curved, a little wavy... last time I checked with the potatoes - they didn't care. just make sure you leave room between the furrows so as the season goes on there's plenty of space to keep hilling the different varieties of tasty tubers you re growing. (Hey CSA people - at this point there are 5 differnt varites going in for you - and yes, the first picture is showing the colors right, one of them is purple).
Waiting to be covered
Once you get your rows in (for us this year that's about 500' of tuber goodness) - you just walk down the furrow with a bucket of cut spuds and drop them in the trench. Anywhere between 6-12" apart and you are in business. then it's as simple as spreading 3-4" of soil over the top and marking your rows. Done. As the season goes on I will hill the potatoes a couple of times and I'll also irrigate the space between the rows... but overall - potatoes are pretty easy.
Why is this special... well - after spending several months now playing with seeds that are sand grain size - it's nice to have big things to toss into the ground and watch the progress quickly (plus - I love homegrown potatoes!)
Cut seed potatoes (batch 1)So simple - really no thinking... you get good seed stock and set them out in the light for a couple of days. When the little eyes seem like they are waking up - grab a knife and start cutting. One or two eyes to a chunk. Then let the chunks sit for a couple of days with the cut side up so they can scab over.
"Straight" potato furrowThen it's off to the gardens to put in your furrows. Straight, curved, a little wavy... last time I checked with the potatoes - they didn't care. just make sure you leave room between the furrows so as the season goes on there's plenty of space to keep hilling the different varieties of tasty tubers you re growing. (Hey CSA people - at this point there are 5 differnt varites going in for you - and yes, the first picture is showing the colors right, one of them is purple).
Waiting to be coveredOnce you get your rows in (for us this year that's about 500' of tuber goodness) - you just walk down the furrow with a bucket of cut spuds and drop them in the trench. Anywhere between 6-12" apart and you are in business. then it's as simple as spreading 3-4" of soil over the top and marking your rows. Done. As the season goes on I will hill the potatoes a couple of times and I'll also irrigate the space between the rows... but overall - potatoes are pretty easy.
Why is this special... well - after spending several months now playing with seeds that are sand grain size - it's nice to have big things to toss into the ground and watch the progress quickly (plus - I love homegrown potatoes!)
Reader Comments (1)
[...] our frustration runs deeper. We can’t work the soil. For example one year ago today, we were plating potatoes and the peas were up several inches… actually I think we had 2 plantings in by now. This [...]