Recent content by VT Chicklit

I am growing some of my tomatoes, green peppers and egg plants in hay bales this year, for the first time. I too have had weed problems in the past. The weeds are almost non-existant in my hay bale garden and they are not too bad in my regular garden this year, as well. What I did was to first...

So Steve, are you saying that we should not cover them so much. Is that the way to grow shorter stems. I am a newbe growing potatoes and I am using the tall wire basket method. I have 2 baskets that I was using straw and compost to cover. I thought those had died after covering them only about...

I am new potato grower. I have 4 bins planted with potatoes that I am trying various materials to grow in. I dont know much at this point about potato diseases but today I heard on a local radio station that the potato disease that caused the Great Potato Famine in Ireland was found in plants...

I saw my first potato plants today :weee I am syched! I planted 10 sprouts between my 2 wire bins. I saw leaves on 1 plant in one bin and leaves on 2 plants in the other bin. WEEEEE!

I currently have a sweet potato sprouting in water on my bookcase. It has 4 sprouts that are about 2 inches long each, so far. I am not sure if I need to break off the sprouts and root them in water and if I do, how long do they need to be before I do this? If this is not how it needs to be done...

I planted my potato sprouts on April 19. I planted them in a 30 in diameter cylinder made from small grid fencing. The medium I used to plant in was a layer of compost (2 inches) a layer of staw (2 inches) then the sprouts, another layer of straw (2 inches) and another layer of compost (1 inch)...

I live in northern Vermont and I do not expect to see anything from my asperagus for another 2 or 3 weeks yet. We just ran the rototiller through the bed to break up the crust because the top layer of soil is always compacted and hard for the stalks to grow through. I had been told that...

I want to plant sweet potatoes too! I have started my sprouting potato in water and it now has roots and little nubs that will become the sprouts. Can anyone tell me if I can plant these sprouts the way that regular potatoes were planted in another thread on this site. That method had the seed...

I cut my heratige raspberries down to within 1 - 2 inches of the ground each year, in the month of March (right after the snow disapears but the ground is still frozen). I then fertalize them in the beginning of May with a fertalizer I purchase from Gurneys specifically for rasperries. The...

I have 4 larger breed chickens who provide me with a dust pan filled with Poop every other day. This winter, I decided to toss it on to my garden to provide some fertilization that will be tilled into the garden in the spring. I am not sure how much is too much. I have been trying to put some...

:tools I got my Preen at a local discount store but it can be purchased at Home Depot, Wal Mart and other chain stores. When you use the Preen you can use it as soon as you plant the veggie seeds in many caases because it blocks mostly weed varieties. My box has a list on the back. I plant the...

I am interested in finding out how to ammend my root veggie raised bed. In this bed, which is 10 X 6, I grow carrots on 1/2 the area every year and have tried turnips (successful), beets (not successful), onions & shallots(not successful) in the other 1/2. I attempted to amend this bed with...

I plant either Nantes, Danvers, or Chantenay depending what seeds I can get at the co-op. I plant them in a raised bed that I have where I plant other root veggies. The soil in this bed is a looser, more sandy soil than I have in my bigger garden. We have good luck with our carrots. We use a...

I have heard that you can plant potatoes in plastic 55 gallon drums using a layering method. I am interested in finding out how this is done. Does there need to be holes in the drum or do you remove the bottom of the drum. What is a layering method? How many seed potatoes are used in each drum...

Canned chicken yesterday. Our local supermarket had a deal on chicken legs, 39 cents a pound. I bought 10 pounds and deboned them and canned the meat. I had never canned any meat before, so I was surprised that the 10 pounds of legs only produced 5 pints of meat and 2 additional pints of broth...