our fall garden

[majorcatfish]

Sounds like a fantastic winter garden.

well @baymule you know since i've been here learned about gardening with raised beds and now about gardening in the winter, and it's all to thanks of everyone here.
so here's and big thanks to all of you who have been sharing your gardening wisdom....

 

[Jared77]

I'm impressed and it's very motivating to try to do more/longer too.

 

[majorcatfish]

since today was another nice day 55* decided to start removing weeds in the potato beds, it's going to be the watermelon patch this year. was hoeing and a potato popped up and another so after carefully as possible this is what came up from just one row... is this a hoot or what

wonder whats under the other 2 rows...?

 

[thistlebloom]

Well that was a fun surprise Major!

I always find potatoes growing the next year that I missed at harvest. And it sure seems like I've been thorough. I often wonder if they could be purposely planted in the fall and successfully grown to harvest the next year. It's an experiment that has never actually made it past the ponder stage.

 

[majorcatfish]

Well that was a fun surprise Major!

I always find potatoes growing the next year that I missed at harvest. And it sure seems like I've been thorough. I often wonder if they could be purposely planted in the fall and successfully grown to harvest the next year. It's an experiment that has never actually made it past the ponder stage.

funny you said.... "past the ponder stage" the first year of the our raised bed we missed a few small ones , this year they did sprout and grew since i had other veggies growing staked them once done dug around that area and did find a couple fist size yukon gold potatoes. the only thing i can come up with is that the soil was cold enough to put the either a piece of root or a small seed potato into hibernation till the soil warmed up again. hence what i found this summer and this winter.

this year all we are going to grow is either yukon gold, maybe a irish cobbler and a blue potato, since they are a short season spud. need to figure out how to keep them in hibernation till september to plant as a fall spud and harvest in the middle of winter...
maybe try some store bought yukons wash them to remove the anti-sprouting chemical on them and try....

 

[thistlebloom]

If I did experiment with the idea of a deliberate fall planting it would be on a a pretty small scale. My expectation is that most of them would rot before they sprouted in the spring. But I think it would be a fun thing to try! Maybe next fall.

 

[majorcatfish]

now if you think about it, most of the potatoes we buy at the store are in cold storage 33-34* with 90% humidity <ok in a perfect situation> and anti sprouting added
so if you plant a potato in the ground in fall it should be just about the same...right?
this would be fun to try as a group <lets say> 3 people one person buys 15 lbs of potatoes and ships the other 2 people 5 lbs each and plants at the same time in the fall what would be the out come the following season weight wise ?

 

[thistlebloom]

Well, my soil is not exactly perfect storage conditions for a potato. It can freeze solid a couple feet down.

I'll be waiting for my potato shipment Major.

 

[digitS']

Major, don't you dig the soil out of your entire potato bed one-half shovelful at a time - standing in the trench and scrutinizing every cubic inch in an attempt to locate every delectable spud?? You don't do this at a rate of 6 to 8 plants each week so that it takes you a month to cover 100 square feet of high-value garden real estate?

If you report how many pounds you harvest on TEG, you will! I seldom miss any - the Purple Majesties were an exception.

I have deliberately planted in late July, thinking I might get 2 crops in one year. Abysmal failure! A few of the plants showed up the next year and I left them growing - to poor results.

You may be able to grow a 2nd crop in your location but it would probably be best not to use spuds from your first crop. By the way, the story on conventional soopermarket potatoes is that the ones available during summer months are virtually all treated to retard sprouting. It isn't just that they are treated in storage but the previous year's potatoes, those intended for long-term storage, are treated in the field before harvesting. I wonder how many months it takes them to shake that off ...

Steve

 

[AMKuska]

@digitS' winco Yukon golds must not be sprayed. It seems like i hardly get them home before they are sprouting!