Potato Towers

Growing potatoes is really easy and fun.  Freshly picked potatoes taste fantastic and have the most amazing texture.  (This is coming from a gal who hated potatoes growing up.)  There are many different methods for growing potatoes from straight into the ground, to using tires, cages, bags, garbage cans, and boxes.  In the past we’ve tried large pots and in the ground using the hilling up method.  The in ground method worked very well, but makes for difficult harvesting of young potatoes.  This year we are going to try using potato towers for our early and mid season potatoes.  Our late season potatoes are being planted in a raised bed using the hilling up method.

We googled “potato towers” and found a variety of styles.  We also searched YouTube for videos on “potato towers” and “potato boxes” and found a number of unsuccessful harvests and a couple of videos from successful growers.  The two biggest mistakes we saw from unsuccessful towers were letting the potato shoots get too tall before adding more soil and keeping the soil too wet.  Letting the shoots get too tall allows the shoot to convert to a “shaw” or leafy growth. When this happens it no longer produces potatoes along that shoot.  It is important to add more soil when the shoots emerge out of the soil.  Cover the shoots with an inch or two of soil.  The plant does need to photosynthesize at some point, so we may let some shoots get a little taller and develop leaves while covering up some shorter ones.  I highly suggest the following links for more information.   

Henley Potato Tower- Science behind growing Potatoes
Harvesting Henley Potato Tower Video
How to Make a Garbage Can Potato Tower Video
Harvesting a Garbage Can Potato Tower Video

We built 2 ft x 2 ft boxes using four 2x4's for the vertical legs and six inch wide cedar fence boards for the sides.  We attached one layer of cedar fence boards at the base.  One side got a second layer to add a little more stability.

We set the boxes in a raised bed with the bottom layer partially buried.  We then planted 6 potatoes in each box (2 per side).  We planted early & mid-season potatoes- a mix of Reds, Banana Fingerlings, and Yukon Gem.  In trenches behind towers we planted late season varieties- Russets and German Butterball, as well as, the extra Reds and Yukons.  We covered the potatoes with a few inches of soil and then layered some pine needles on top to help acidify the soil. 

When the potatoes grow out of the soil an inch or so we’ll add some more soil and continue this until the soil fills that first layer of boards.  When we screw on the next layer of boards we will drill two ½ inch holes in each side where the two boards meet and try to train one shaw from each potato to grow through it.  This will allow the potato to photosynthesize (create energy) while the rest of the shoots continue to grow upwards and get covered with soil.  Once the entire box (four board layers tall) is filled with soil, we’ll let the plant grow freely to make a full leafy top.

Harvesting:

When the potato plant starts to flower, we will be able to remove a lower board and reach in to grab young potatoes to eat fresh.  Later in the season when the top growth dies back, we’ll be able to remove all the boards and easily collect the remaining potatoes. 

Terry is practicing how he'll reach in and grab those young spring potatoes.

Storing Potatoes:

Last year we grew potatoes in one of a raised garden beds using the hilling up method.  We ended up just leaving them in the ground and harvested as needed.  This worked out very well except when I had to go out on an rainy icky day and root around in the dirt for dinner.  What was neat is that this Spring we found some little potatoes left in the bed and we got to eat our homegrown potatoes even though we thought we finished them off months ago.

Basic Growing Tips:

• Buy Seed Potatoes from a nursery (they should be disease free)
•  Feed with a 1-2-2 ratio Organic Fertilizer
•  Use well-drained soil, you can mix in composted leaves, pine needles, straw
•  Use acidic soil (this will prevent scab); add pine needles or coffee grounds
• Keep the pile of soil near the potato box to make for easy filling
• Do not overwater or the potatoes can rot

Parking Strip Redo

So if you've been by our house lately, you might be wondering WTF is up with our parking strip garden.  Well... apparently we can't leave well enough alone.  The raised beds edged with repurposed sod served us well for the past three years, but we are tired of trimming the grass both on the bed edges and between the beds.  Also, because the sod had rhizomatous grasses and weeds in it, the good garden soil was slowly being invaded creating more weeding work for us.  So, Terry insisted that we rid ourselves of the sod.  The plan is to remove the sod bed edges, spread the sod out, sheet mulch over the sod with cardboard, enlarge the beds with more soil, and mulch everything else with wood chips.

We started off by measuring the parking strip and sketching out the new bed configuration.  Then, we edged the sidewalk because the grass had grown over it.  Next, we measured and marked out the new beds corners with pin flags.  Then we started to pick away the current sod bed edges.  This is perhaps the most labor intensive part of the project.  It's pretty clear that things are going to look horrible until we complete this project.  We need to collect a ton of cardboard, order 12 yards of soil, and find an arborist to drop a load of wood chips.  Also we need to do all this soon, we can getting planting.

I'd like to note that, beds edged with sod isn't necessarily a bad way to go, if you only have a small area to manage.  I had suggested that we cover the sod beds with black plastic during Winter to weaken the grass and warm the soils before each growing season.  However, Terry had already made up his mind that the sod had to go.  Plus, he wanted more planting space.  So that explains the mess and the pin flags...

If you are interested in growing a garden in your parking strip, the city of Tacoma has some guidelines.  You can find information on this at Gardensphere in Proctor.

Starting Seeds Indoors 2012

For St. Patrick's Day we decided to go green by starting some seeds indoors.  Early March is a great time to start Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplants, and other warm weather crops that you want to have good-sized when the warm weather arrives in late May/June.  This ensures that you will have enough ripe tomatoes by the time fall comes around.  (Eek- I don't want to think about fall already!)

In 2011, we started our indoor seeds February 21st.  While we got great tomatoes, the starts got leggy and overwhelmed our dining room and we had to build some temporary greenhouses to move them out into and it was all a major annoyance.  So, we're hoping that by starting a few weeks later, the starts will be less leggy, but still far enough along to produce well this summer.  A warm and sunny spring wouldn't hurt either.

Another thing we did differently this year is use smaller pots to start our seeds.  In the past we've used old Starbucks cups.  This year we're trying egg cartons and yogurt cups.  I've found that the starts quickly get leggy and I need to bury them deeper in soil.  So, the plan is to let the seeds germinate and grow until the first true leaves after the cotyledons open.  Then, I'll transplant them into the larger Starbucks cups.  After they outgrow the Starbucks cups, they'll get transplanted into 1 gallon pots and hopefully into a temporary greenhouse outside.

Next year, I want to have a grow light system in the basement to get the starts out of the dining room.  I also hope to build a permanent greenhouse.  We'll make do for this year.

Seed List:
Tomato- Martino's Roma, Stupice, Heirloom Rainbow Blend, Legend, Gold Nugget, Oregon Spring, Saucey
Pepper- Pizza Pepper, Cal Wonder Bell, Hungarian Wax, Poblano-Ancho
Eggplant- Twilight Hybrid
Artichoke- Green Globe (new for us this year- so excited)
Herbs- Sweet Basil, Oregano, Cilantro
Flowers- Zinnias, Celosia, Lupine, Statice, Lavender, Larkspur

GROWING TIPS:  When starting your seeds a little later than recommended, it is key to make sure your seeds germinate quickly and the seedlings grow steadily.  Use a good potting mix and make sure your seedlings have a warm space with direct sunlight (or a grow light).  Keep the soil moist, but not too wet.  Be sure to add a liquid fertilizer to the water once the seedings get growing well.  Note:  Too much fertilizer and not enough sun will cause weak leggy stems.  Too little fertilizer will stunt your seedlings and they'll turn yellow.  Once your starts outgrow their pot, move them up into a larger pot with more soil space.  If the roots get too constricted, it'll stunt the plants and it'll be difficult to keep them watered.  Observation, patience, and persistence are good skills in this endeavor.  You'll learn quickly if you have a green thumb.

Happy Planting!

Planting March 2012

 We finally got into the mood to plant, which is considerably later than usual.  Last weekend, we cleaned out the beds, and topped them off with some fresh Tagro Potting Soil.  Keeping in mind crop rotation, we drew up a plan, organized our seeds and planted away.

Seed List:

Cauliflower- Early Snowball

Peas- Super Sugar Snap, Sugar Snap, Dakota, Oregon Sugar Pod

Cabbage- Early Jersey, Red Acre

Chinese Cabbage- Winter Elf

Beets- Chioggia, Cylindrical, Golden, Winterkeeper

Carrots- Scarlet Nantes

Radish- White Icicle, Easter Egg II, French Breakfast

Turnip- Purple Top

Rutabaga- American Purple Top

Parsley- Italian

Cilantro

Onion- Evergreen Bunching

Peas

Every year we like to try something new... this year I finally convinced my dear husband to dedicate part of a raised bed to Asparagus.  I've wanted to grow Asparagus to give us something fresh to pick during the late Winter/Early Spring period.  Neither of us have ever grown it before, so I'm super excited to see how it goes.  I purchased five 'Jersey Knight' crowns at Portland Avenue Nursery and they kindly had planting instructions to take home as well.  With luck, we'll be eating homegrown Asparagus in 2-3 years.  Gardening definitely teaches one patience.    

Asparagus Crowns

Mr. Slug is ready to feast on some Chard.

Next on our garden to do list is to start our indoor seeds and prepare beds for potatoes and onion sets.

Mid-Winter Harvest

Over the years we learned a few lessons about overwintering crops...

1. Cold weather makes your brassicas very sweet.  This is a great reason to grow brassicas in the fall to pick during winter.  (However, some years it gets too cold (10 degrees or lower) and we lose some of the brassicas.)  This winter was mild and everything made it through without protection with row covers or poly-tunnels.

2. There are fewer pests to deal with in the fall and winter season.

3. Pick your overwintered leafy & root brassicas (kale, collards, brussel sprouts, turnips etc.)  before they bolt (go to flower).  Bolting happens before you know it and then all the plant's energy is sent into flower and seed production.  This is great if you want seeds, but we've learned that by the time seeds are produced, aphids are in full force and it's not fun to deal with.  If brassicas are already flowering, you can use the flowers and buds in cooking just like broccoli.

Kale flower bud forming

4. Sometimes overwintered vegetables don't grow like they should.  Maybe we planted too late in the season, didn't fertilize right, or there were too many temperature swings.  For example, our kohl rabi didn't fully form round bulbs, they are more elongated.  Now they are starting to bolt, so we know they are not going to get any bigger.  However, the stem tastes just as sweet as proper looking kohl rabi does, so we harvested it and ate it.

Kohl rabi that didn't fully form right

5. After harvesting your winter crops, process them in such a way to make them easy to use for cooking. I'm trying hard to get better at this.

Lots of curly Kale to process

To Process Kale:

1. Clean
2. De-stem and tear into 1 to 2 inch sized pieces
3. Blanche Kale in boiling water for 2 minutes
4. Ice Bath- move Kale to large bowl full of ice water to stop cooking process
5. Drain
6. Freeze in cooking-friendly sized portions.  I used muffin tins for an initial freeze, then packed the small portions in gallon freezer bags.

Another way to use a lot of Kale is to make Kale Chips.  Basically clean, de-stem, and dry the kale.  Coat in olive oil and any seasonings you like.  Bake on cookie sheets at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until kale is crispy.  I made some for the first time this weekend.  I think I used too much sea salt.  I added some garlic granules to the second batch and they tasted better.  

Other winter crops we cleared out this weekend were beets, kohl rabi, brussels sprouts, turnips, bok choy, and carrots.  The beets were small and covered in root hairs, but we cooked them up anyway.  The turnips were very large and cracked.  I thought they'd be woody and nasty, but they were super juicy and sweet.  The carrots were anemic, pretty sure I planted them too late, I cleaned and froze them for future soup stock.  The bok choy harbored snails and an earwig, but otherwise still looked edible.

The winter crops that are still left if the ground from fall are broccoli, young brussel sprouts, garlic, green onions, fava beans, lettuce, spinach, and chard.   

To summarize: process and enjoy those mature winter crops before they bolt and get attacked by all the bugs that are emerging from their winter slumber.  Plus now is a good time to clean out those garden beds to make way for spring crops.  

Leaping into the 2012 Garden Season

So, February 29, Leap Day, seems an appropriate time to start garden blogging for 2012.  In a typical year we would have been rushing to start our seeds a week or two ago.  My dining room window seat should be covered in soil filled seed cups by now.  This year a different project has sprouted itself and consumed our time and energy... a project that has been put off for way too long... an icky not fun project.

Think cobwebs, dead rodents, musty dusty air, and piles and piles of stuff.  Yes, that would be our basement. We've had our place almost 8 years and the basement has been our catch all place for misc. building materials, firewood, tons of paint cans, empty jars, used pots, cleaning supplies, old tires, old glass window panes, old doors, ladders, and the old heating oil tank, etc.  Oh, and my laundry area too.  Well, the time had come to clean it up, paint it and organize it.  It also should be noted that half our basement has a concrete floor, the other half is a dirt floor (hence musty smell).

Well without going into great detail because this blog is about gardening, we spent a week clearing out the basement, did two dump runs, put a bunch of free stuff out by the curb (most of it is gone now- yay!), put down a vapor barrier and a plywood floor over the dirt part, and painted the walls a fresh bright white.  My hope is to complete the plywood floor space and move all the stuff we're keeping into that room, so we can finish painting the concrete floored space.  Then... we can see how best to utilize  the basement.

This is where gardening ideas comes in... neatly organized supplies for seed starting, perhaps a grow light system, so I don't have to use my dining room window for starts, shelving to store our crops (root cellar), shelving to store our drinks (wine cellar), and a well-organized workshop space to build misc. garden furniture (potting bench).  Also, I want a nice clean pretty laundry center.  Is this asking too much?

We'll see what gets done over the next few months.

In other garden news, most of our fall crops wintered over well and we ate a healthy amount of brussel sprouts, turnips, bok choy, and kale.  Now, our broccoli are starting to sprout florets, fresh chives and garlic sprouts have been coming up, and our little sprouts of lettuce and mesclun mix that sat there most of the winter is growing again.  Also, down at our community garden plot which has a makeshift plastic hoop house over it, we planted some sugar lace snap peas, green onions, and lettuce a few weeks ago and they are all coming up fine.

Thank goodness for Leap Day, for helping me reset my blogging clock.  Happy Gardening!


    

Fall Harvest 2011

We were really late in planting our crops for fall harvest, but despite our bad timing, there are a few vegetables that have done really well and along with the young greens we have plenty of fresh veggies to keep us well fed.  

Fall harvesting lately has consisted of turnips, potatoes, brussels sprouts, beets, and young chinese cabbage.  Our turnips turned out perfect this year.  Hardly any root maggots.  We've been looking up all sorts of turnip recipes online and so far we have made glazed turnips, added them to chicken soup, and have been eating them thinly sliced in salads.  Eaten raw, turnips taste kind of like radishes.  We've also been using their greens as a substitute for kale.  

In the same bed as the turnips, we planted rutabagas and radishes.  The rutabagas did horrible.  Some germinated, but were quickly eaten by slugs.  None got even close to maturing.  Radishes did well but were over-mature and woody before we got around to picking them.  So, fall 2011 will be known as the season of the turnips.  

This was the first year we grew brussels sprouts.  We planted them in the spring and while they are forming sprouts, they are really small and full of aphids.  The aphids are a pain to clean off because they hide in the layers.  Once cleaned and steamed the sprouts taste really good.  

Other crops we have been picking lately are beets and various greens.  Our beets are really small, but tasty.  The chinese cabbage we planted hasn't quite formed heads yet, but we are eating them as salad greens and using them in stir fry.  Kale and bok choy are also staples this time of year.  With our fall harvests and our stored veggies (potatoes in the ground) (winter squash and garlic in the basement)(corn, peas, beans in the freezer) we're eating pretty darn well.  

This week the weather has definitely gotten colder and we'll see how long everything holds up in the garden.