My necessary new potato patch (pix)... Harvest update

[thistlebloom]

I have blissfully been loading my soil up the past few years with lots of shredded leaves and sunflower plants, leaves that included a huge quantity of horse chestnut, I discovered last winter that those two things particularly contain substantial amounts of allelopathic compounds.
That was bad news for my garden and could be a reason that it has been less than spectacular, especially the potatoes which can get phytopthora blight from sunflowers. ( Naturally I'd way rather blame anything but my gardening skills )

So this year I was in a quandary, not growing potatoes is out of the question, but I sure didn't want to put them back in the main garden where I had messed up the soil. My husband suggested using the area between the house and the chicken pen, which until then had only grown a fine assortment of weeds. As usual I hesitated (not my idea ya' know? ). But in the end it seemed like the best alternative.

Well, I am sooo pleased with how they have done that I might share some of them with my smart husband (and why is he always right anyway? ).

They are big and green and healthy, and as you'll be able to see, kind of crowded.

The proof will be in the digging, and I admit to being a little nervous about that, but hopefully I'll get a good harvest.

I planted 17 pounds total, mostly Yukon Golds because those are our favorites, then Maris Piper which I've wanted to try, and a few pounds of Durango, which did well for me before, and are a nice all purpose potato. I plan on weighing them as they are harvested
and I'm hoping for close to the 10 pounds of yield per pound of seed potato that they say is average.



April 22, 2011
Getting a pile of willow (different project ) shredded and out of the way.
The shredded willow became the path to the chicken pen.

The Yukons in the front, and Maris Piper in the back.
The MP got 4 feet tall!

 

[berry_Bob]

looks great , good job

 

[lesa]

Wow!! That is what I call a potato garden! Those plants look so healthy and green. I can't imagine with plants like that, that you won't have a super harvest! (I do kind of hate the mystery of potatoes!) Is that a current pic? Mine are all kind of ugly and dying back... I love that chicken coop- very cute!

 

[journey11]

Your right, it does look like the walmart parking lot! They look very happy and healthy!

I've done that before too and got a little carried away composting everything. I usually burn my sunflower stalks because they take forever to break down and I don't have a chipper or else I'd have the same problem too.

That's a very nice set up you have for your chickens. And so conveniently close to the garden too. My DH and I have been talking about building a new coop and getting the chickens out of the far end of my little barn. I need the space soon for hay storage and goats. I'm going to show him your pic of your coop, which is a lot like what I had in mind. He thinks I've got it in for him...another huge project. Maybe he'll be encouraged.

 

[thistlebloom]

Thanks for the compliments 'bob and lesa!
The bottom picture was probably a week ago, I didn't plant until May 21.
The Yukons are beginning to yellow a bit, but the others are still going strong.

The chicken coop has a little story too, a customer had my son and I do the spring garden cleanup at her cabin, and mentioned in passing that we could have the wood stored under the cabin if we wanted it.
Well, yeah!!
We collected it all (two truckloads...small Toyota truck loads ).
My husband built it last summer, the wood was almost all cedar and redwood, and was old enough that 2x6's were actually 2 inches by 6 inches. He installed a sliding, double paned window that I had salvaged out of a dumpster from a remodel job he was on, and a small window I bought at the ReStore for 3 bucks. The only expense was the screws and nails, roofing and hardware.
Oh, and the paint.
It's as close to a barn as I'm probably likely to ever get, but I'm real happy with how it turned out.

 

[thistlebloom]

Thanks Journey, isn't it great to have handy husbands?
So, getting more goats? Keep us posted, I love goatie stories !
I wish the coop was a little bigger, but we used up almost all the wood making it. This way my husband knows I won't be able to keep collecting chickens .

 

[digitS']

Thistle', I'm very pleased that all of our crummy early-season weather seems to have favored your potatoes.

Four feet tall plants! 17 pounds of seed potatoes!!

Do you have plans for a storage building??

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

Ha! Yeah, a real root cellar is on my wish list, but pretty sure it ain't happening this year!
Here's a little better pic of the stately Maris Piper, taken 3 days ago.
To be fair, the soil in the back of the patch is better and less rocky than that up front where the Yuk's are growing, but I really think MP happens to be a tall plant.

ETA- That toy corn is my Orchard Baby, and I'm embarrassed to show you guys what an incorrigible plant crammer I am!

 

[lesa]

But, it always seems like plenty of room in the spring!!! Getting through my garden, is like traveling a maze right about now... Have you ever considered canning your potatoes? We used our pressure canner last year- and they really turned out delicious. No worry about root cellars, or rotting potatoes.

 

[thistlebloom]

I'd love to can them, but I'm a newbie canner, or more correctly I've never canned yet, although I did just buy a waterbath canner and some accessories. I think this will be the year to get my feet wet with tomatoes (if I get more than two ripe ones ) and pickles
(if my cukes do more than just bloom ). But I've been eyeballing pressure canners online.
Reading about everyone on TEG's canning adventures has really made me want to be a little more self reliant that way.
You guys are so encouraging!