Last Years Potatoes

If, like me, you're still eating last years spuds, it's worth checking through the ones you have left.

My old spuds are sprouting, so I removed all the growth and also any diseased and rotten specimens. 

Put the good spuds back in their sack/s and protect from frost. Chuck into a bucket of water for a few weeks, and then compost, all the rubbish bits.

The Spuds Are Go - Tues 17.4.12

When we leave spuds hanging around, they grow stalks - we call it 

CHITTING.

My seed spuds have chitted nicely and are ready for planting.

A couple of things: you don't really have to chit your spuds, you can simply plant them at the allotted time (spring).

The chits grow out of the spuds eyes. Each eye - or stalk - can be cut out and planted and will form a new potato plant - it's the American way.

Put your spuds in with a foot or two between tubers. They need to go deep, so either dig holes or make a trench and then bury the little gems. I still put each spud in a shallow hole in the bottom of my trench.

That BLACKBIRD follows me everywhere; to him I am food!

Stand back and watch as your food grows before your very eyes.

Growing your own - better for you than driving to the supermarket.

Spuds Dug

I spent yesterday doing a few things on the plot.

I put in more CALABRESE, and CARROT SEEDS for the slugs to feast on - perhaps I should give up on them - calabrese and carrots, that is!

One major job was to crack on with the preparation of the POTATO BED. Here it is half dug. And here it stayed. I'll dig the other half next week.

NO SWEAT!

You may have noticed the weeds on the spud plot! Here is the final destination of the pernicious ones: Dandelions, Buttercups, Thistles. These are the ones I don't want on the compost heap as the roots will stay alive and get growing again the moment they hit the soil.

THEY MUST BE KILLED!

A LIDDED TRUG, or BIN, full of WATER is all we need.

All these most persistent weeds are thrown in and the lid put on. 

When the weeds have become slimy, put the whole lot on the compost heap. 


Refill the trug and bin with water and carry on rotting down your worst weeds.

Great food for your next crop.

EASY

: )

Chitting Spuds

Look at them, my little soldiers all standing to attention and ready to go into active service for their Queen Of The Plot - ME.

I have to admit that I don't always PIMP MY SPUDS, but I will this year. I may even go all American and cut up each spud so that every sprouting eye is planted out. That way every seed spud can give a spud plant per eye! That's about a pound of spuds per eye!

Worth a try!

Spud-U-Like

We headed out today, in the mild, warm sunshine, to dig SPUDS.

After 2 trug fulls, MeWally curled up to stretch his back. The light was fading , as was our energy. Next job is to fertilise the soil - HORSE MANURE -and then,

REPLANT.

IT NEVER ENDS

: )

Spudulike Tuesday 5.10.10

I spent my gloriously sunny gardening day digging up my SPUDS. There's a good amount of them, especially when I recall they've had about four and a half months to grow. Normally they'd take nearer 6 months for main crop ones.

HAPPY GIRL.

The ones I brought home to use over the next few days/weeks needed washing.

If you plonk them into a trug, mine's a small one (!) with water, you can swill them around briskly,

Pinch the trug handles together and form a spout,

Pouring off the mucky water is a cinch,  

with the veges staying in the trug. 

REPEAT AND EAT

Plants On The Plinth - Saturday 29.5.10

The Plinth is clear and filled with plants in pots. It looks very presentable. There's plenty of room for more.

The boxy thing in the centre of the picture is the spring. The whole area keeps wet, because of the overflowing water. I'm hoping it'll be enough to keep the compost in the pots wet.

Amazingly, the spuds have come up already! They've ONLY been in for 12 days. 

NOT BAD!

And as for the PEAS, well, take a look.

They're festooned with pods. Trouble is, the plants are fairly small, so they'll be stripped of their pods right now. That will leave them with more energy to grow into big plants with masses of peas. 

I LIVE IN HOPE.

Light At The Of The Tunnel

Spent a third day this week working on the garden plot; just digging and putting in spuds.

The first earlies and earlies  were getting desperate to go into the ground, with long, stalky stems and tight , knotted roots enmeshing them together. In contrast, the main crop spuds are chitted to perfection. Just look at this little guy.

By the end of the day I'd put in the last of of the 100, or so, spuds. Looking from the spud end of the plot, I now have a strip of empty dug ground, Spuds (obviously), Beans, Peas, and flowers of one kind, or another, and a Nettle and Bramble bed at the far end.

GREAT RESULT!!

It's been tough getting the plot to this stage. Levering and digging out the Bramble roots; ugghh.

This root's over a metre across and was attached to about 4 other centres of growth. I've caught them all just in time, as those white bits are the new season's growth following on from a tight strimming and 2 passes with the Rotavator last Autumn.

The other big problem here has been the Dandelion plants which have been left undisturbed for years allowing roots up to half a metre long to develop. These ones are only about 10ins (I love to mix my units of measurement).

Again the new growth is beginning to show, even though most Dandelions have flowered and the clocks are everywhere right now. It's amazing how plants can regenerate after such an attack.

Spent the tail end, of this rather long day, ripping out Nettles and Goose Grass to save having their  seeds fall everywhere later in the season. 


All the while today,
the watering had to be done. I'm really lucky to have a spring, but, unfortunately, it only delivers a trickle of water which I catch in a trug. I get about a watering can full every half an hour, or so. Gives me a chance for a break; you know, empty the weeds, water the existing plants, take a deep breath, and then ....


OFF I GO AGAIN

Better Late Than Never - Putting In The Spuds

Well what a great way to spend the day: 
putting in spuds.

They're going to be dropped into the green area next to my broad beans. Look how sunny it was today.

The bed will be a rectangle, which meant lifting some of the plastic sheeting to give me a top corner.  It's done a great job at keeping weeds down and weakening the big stuff. 

Found 3 amazing creatures inside 10 minutes. 

This big toad was under the soil, I flipped it out of the ground. I thought I had speared it on the prongs of the fork. It's OK, it didn't have a mark on it.

Then I almost stepped backwards onto this......

It's a Slow Worm, small, but perfectly formed.

As if to keep me on my toes, this little critter was leaping about all over the place. I scooped it up, took it's mug shot and released it. How perfect it was.

A Frog

Sill, I got on with my digging  and finally managed to get 4 rows in, out of 10. looking good.

I can taste them now, yummy!!