Saturday, February 4, 2012

The spuds cometh.


What a decent day. It wasn't anything overly crazy. Outside was low 30s most of the day until it warmed to about 36F. The nice part, however, was the sun room. (An attached room with three sides of floor to roof glass. Sun Room, Arizona Room, Three season room. Which you use depends on your location. What do you call it?) As seen from my attire, thin sweater and loose scarf, it felt quit warm.

Dragged all the little seed cups outside. Even got help to move out one of the flats. The other one with lettuce is just too heavy and boxed in under the stairs to be move-able. Is it strange that It felt good treating them to a nice sunny day? A feeling similar to giving your pet a treat just because. Or your kids aren't making you pull out your hair so all is good.


Back to the spuds. Had to run out for errands. Finally got the much needed 3-way switch for the grow light. Now the broccoli will be happy with their added 2150 lumens. I've been pondering about where to purchase potatoes. How much. Varieties etc. Originally we were going to purchase from Maine potato lady. They carry a number of neat varieties in both organic and standard. To get the order by march or was it may, hmm, the order had to be in by January 30th. We let that slip by. Instead we are going to use store bought. 60lbs total for $28 bucks. Helluvah savings over shipping 50+lbs in the mail. I figure it this way, our state already grows some darn good potatoes we enjoy. Minimal expense. If anything is good enough to show the viability of growing them in the backyard where I want then a local mass ground version is a good start. I was cracking up looking at my shopping cart filled with all its bags. Thinking to myself about how onlookers must imagine that really big bowl of mash to come. We did pretty good though. Going through the bags on display I was pleasantly surprised at how many had decent root growth already! That took care of my wonder about how to get them going far enough to plant in the upcoming months. 40lbs of a white variety well sprouted and 20lbs of an organic russet which isnt deeply sprouted. Some of the russetts have tiny eye buds.

What is the best way to get them going in time to plant them in the next few months??


13 comments:

  1. We call our attached glass room the refrigerator in the winter and store our food there, and the bedroom in the summer. :)

    Be careful of those grocery store potatoes since most have been chemically treated to retard growth. Even though they may have sprouted, they may not develop enough and rot in the ground. When looking for seed potatoes make sure you can verify with the farmer that they have not been treated.

    All the beds look great!

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    1. 1st part made me laugh. 2nd part: I've thought about that as well. With it still being a month to two out from planting them, I will keep an eye on them to see how much the sprouts continue to grow. Determining vitality etc. From first looking however they white really do have extensive root growth. Not simply 'eyes'. The russets are an organic variety. I haven't looked into to see if that still allows them to be treated. They at the moment just have eyes. Not much actual roots.

      Experimentation. :) 'nothing else, they were $28 bucks total and I could always eat them!!

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  2. I used to get my seed potatoes from my Natural foods store: organic...not treated and from a seed potato dealer from Colorado...now I just use my own...I have over 20 varieties! You need to chit your potatoes...make sure the chunks each have a couple eyes. Lots of stuff on the Internet about planting. I plant in hills, in raised beds, in 1/2 wine barrels, in landscape fabric bags, no-dig: lay them on top of the soil and cover with straw/hay...I grow lots of potatoes: we love them. I also am able to grow them year round. Enjoy

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    1. Oooh that sounds nice! This is a potato house as well. As things progress (assuming they work) we'll eventually be right up there behind you.

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  3. Great video. Love the sound effects and your yard! I admit I've not experimented much with growing potatoes. Actually only have 2 seasons under my belt. The first was amazing; over 120 pounds yield. Last year, piddly. Only about 13 or 14 pounds. I really need to experiment.

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    1. 120lbs is something to work with! Was there much of anything different you did between the years? Which methods are you using in your experiments? (BTW, I can still picture myself eating 13-14lbs of potatoes. ;) )

      We purchased 60lbs worth so it better at least come out 60lbs. Hmm, wonder if that can happen, you add in 60 and find less. Interesting

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  4. I've heard to that supermarket potatoes are treated with a retardant but I've actually had great luck with supermarket potatoes sprouting and producing! I just make sure there are at least one or two eyes on each piece and let dry on a tray for a 3 to 5 days prior to planting. My issue has always been with a smaller production that I feel I should be getting. Hmmmmm....now that I'm making this statement, I wonder if this has anything to do with my source of seed potatoes?

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    1. Perhaps. Many factors in growing. Light, soil, weather, temperament. DIfficult to pin down. Most likely in following years I will purchase a little certified seed potatoes. Changing to known varieties that exhibit certain traits etc. Although should this year pan out well enough for the first harvesting then I may find I do not need many lbs of further 'seed'. One would suspect that even if you took a treated potato and from that grew several more that each other would be less treated than the first. IE from not using organic seeds or transplanted plants in your garden, though over time you would create it anyhow.

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  5. Two things - after you commented on my blog - of course, I checked you out and I love (!) and applaud you for ripping out the stupid grass and growing something worthwile. Yeah! And second - how awesome is it that you are a pilot? my son - who is 12 years old - wants to be a pilot and has already started his commercial pilot's license training and has flown 2 hours already. So I am following your blog now and will eagerly look at y our updates. Thanks!

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    1. Thanks for the encouragement. Good thing about your son. Aviation changes your perspective of life. Certainly as a profession it's not all roses, but doing what you love is the best career move anyone could have for any chosen field. I bet he is going to be itching to solo for the next 4 years waiting til he is 16 to do it. He should be quite an avid flier by then. You'll have to keep me posted on how things progress!

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  6. We use Fedco-Moose Tubers in Maine. You've got to get your order in early! We've only planted potatoes for 3 years now. Last year we got them in too late and harvested them too early. This year we'll probably follow Lynda's method of just covering them with hay. I think well composted,aerated and naturally fertilized soil is key; something you've been working on all winter! Good luck. We're hoping we'll be able to save some of the potatoes we harvest this year for 2013

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    1. That will be the key won't it. The 20lbs of organic russets I bought are finally chitting up quite nicely. They (and me) are itching to be in the ground already.

      Here's to a good harvest of them because otherwise I'll end up eating them before 2013!

      As I was telling V when we didn't know if they would sprout : "If they don't Ill just eat them"

      Good luck for us both!

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    2. When did you plant yours and go digging for them? Did you choose to dig them up before they died back a bit?

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