We had a beautiful day today - seems like it might have been the lull between storms since there is another arriving tomorrow apparently.
While Simon was out with the kids riding bikes down at a local pine forest and collecting pine cones. I made a cup of tea, sat in the sun on the kids swing admiring my garden and planning my spring garden.
~ I planted about 60 onion seedlings. I'd picked up a pack from the supermarket which promised me at least 30 plants - wasn't expecting *that* many, but would be great if they all do well and can be stored. My onions were a sad disappointment last year.
~ I dug over another 2x2m patch and added in a bunch of straw/chicken poop from the coop when we moved it.
~ We moved the chickens in preparation for "putting them to work" as spring approaches. The last time I actively had them working was during last winter/spring and then had their tractor to the side just being moved around biding time over summer and autumn. But now, I want to get my potato patches all primed for planting HEAPS! I am thinking 6 plots of 2x2m. Last year I did 3 plots that didn't last long at all. Potato experts - do I need to use soil to mound up the plants or can I use mulch/straw or something else? I'm wondering if we were to put planks around the sides of the plots and just fill them up with whatever is going will do the trick? What are people's thoughts on using tyres and possible contamination?
~ I sowed a bunch more seeds into my propagator - cauli, tomatoes and cucumbers(giving them a go now to see if I grow them in my bedroom which is like a glasshouse lol) and onions.
~ Nathan and I popped some sunflower seeds and peas into the ground around the front of the house.
~ I checked the silverbeet and spinach which looked like it might be preparing to go to seed. Not yet, but when they do, I will be nipping the seeds out to prolong the production stage.
6 comments:
I just asked the 'potato expert' in our house. Truly, he grows masses of great potatoes at Tangimoana. Big mistake though, I just got every detail on how to grow potatoes including a diagram (LOL). He said that the main purpose (as I'm sure you know) of the mounds is to protect the growing potatos, hence he said to use anything - dirt/straw combined is best. Lots of loose soil around the seeded potato too - allows bigger pots and crop. Most of the biggest tubers (maybe 4-5)will grow closest to the seed potato and be first to develop, after which the rest of the potatoes will be smaller and smaller away from the seeded potato. Hope that helps.
Hi Nikki,
I can't help you with your potatoes, mine shot up so high they collapsed!
I've been wondering for a while now about your chicken 'tractor' ... what is it? i just have visions of your chickens getting up early in the morning to go and plough the fields!
I'll be making Iced Lemon Balm Tea today, I'll post a photo tomorrow and 'the verdict', I've got some frozen raspberries I thought would go well with it too...
Good luck with the potatoes!
Thanks Lynda! That's really helpful. I'm sure I can round up plenty of stuff to cover it all with rather than just mounding with soil which I found a bit tedious last time (and probably why I didn't get a good crop lol).
Emmani, lol. Here is a post with the tractor in it. http://satisfying-journey.blogspot.com/2007/08/what-great-team.html
The main point of a tractor (which is basically just a moveable coop) is that there is no covered floor and it's portable. So the chickens get to scratch up, weed, fertilise the soil for me. Then I just move them on to the next plot and they prepare the soil in the same way. I just then dig up the plot to remove any remaining weeds and loosen the soil for planting into. My chooks free-range for probably half a day on average, but the rest of the time they're busy scratching up the plot and I move them on when it's mostly clear. Look forward to reading about your iced lemon balm tea.
I'm definitely the wrong person to ask about potatoes... I did all the WRONG things, as I've found out in the weeks since I planted them! But with a bit of luck we'll still get at least some decent spuds out of it. I hope! I think I'll try some more in the coming weeks, just in case. We don't eat a lot of spuds but there's nothing like home grown!
Glad you could use the gorgeous day! I've overdone it in the last few days, so today when I went out to work over my new veggie patches I discovered just how sore my poor old back really is. So I got a day of rest... it was nice to soak up some sunshine but I so missed digging up the garden!
Wow - you are going to be so well stocked.
Yep, I'm covering my potatoes mainly with dried grass and a little straw, with an occasional bit of dirt thrown in. Don't know what the crop will be like, but they are all growing well.
My only advice would be not to use anything green, as it can heat up the potatoes as it breaks down. I've also heard that potatoes don't like a lot of compost, but not sure how true that is. We're just experimenting here.
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