I could use some expert 'tater advise...

[nachoqtpie]

I think we're going to attempt to plant some potatoes again in the spring. We also do not have a root cellar... in this area you can't have basements because they would quickly become indoor pools!! My dog is about 6 months old, and she's in this digging phase that is driving me bonkers... well.. one day I went out there and there's a hole half way to China and it's full of water!! I was like

We planted about 15-20 garlic things... so I guess we will see how they fair in the spring as well.... I probably should have planted them somewhere else than one of my main beds, but, it's okay I guess.

I'm anxious to get our own potatoes!!

 

[Mickey328]

Plant your garlic all over the place, nacho! It's actually a fairly pretty plant and is dynamite pest control. I make sure to have it growing around all my plants that are susceptible to aphids in particular.

Our soil here is very heavy clay so it makes potatoes a bit of a problem, although parts of southern CO are like a mini Idaho, LOL. That's why we tried to grow them "up" instead of "under". I was quite successful with this method when I lived in Manitoba (also very heavy clay) but the elevation was much, much lower and the latitude was much more northerly so the sun didn't have the "oomph" it has here. But I still think it's the better way to go; we just have to find a way to shade the soil so it doesn't pre-cook the spuds, LOL. I'm kind of thinking that if we stack some straw bales in front of the box, it might well do the trick.

If you're not familiar with it, the idea is: make something to sort of "corral" the soil (I used chicken wire formed into a tube about 20 inches in diameter before when I was up north. Here DH built a sort of box that was about 20 inches wide and about 5 feet long. It was enclosed on 3 sides.) Then you "plant" the potatoes and cover them with about 3 inches of soil. When the plants grow to about 6 inches or so, you add another layer of soil. As you do this, the plants will keep growing and forming the tubers. By the end of the season, you still only have perhaps a foot of plant sticking out the top to gather the sun to keep them growing. To harvest, you just undo the tube, or remove the boards and the spuds essentially just fall out...no digging required. It's much easier to harvest, you don't miss any, and you don't run the risk of gouging or destroying any of them with a fork or shovel.

 

[nachoqtpie]

Well... I think we're doing lasagna gardening this winter... at least on most the beds. 4 of the 8 beds are being used for cool crops, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, and garlic, and the other 4 are "empty." In all actuality, 1 of those 4 beds has radish in it, but, we're not going to be covering it to protect the growing like we will with the other 4. I'm really the only one who likes radish, which I find strange since my husband is a lover of anything hot! Of course... there is the off chance that 's just SAYING he doesn't like radish but in all actuality doesn't really know what they are... haha!

As for growing the spuds, we got a dog food bag last year and planted one that my son started... I apparently forgot to water it one too many times because it died... oops!! It also might have gotten cooked by the plastic food bag as well... not sure. I might plant them along the side of the house so that way it gets sun part of the day, and shade for the hottest part and rest of the day. He did get ONE potato out of the dog food bag... so I guess it wasn't a total waste. ;-)

 

[Mickey328]

Hmmm...now you've got me thinking! We get our cracked corn for the chickens in 50lb bags and they're not plastic coated; just heavy duty paper. We might could try that for some. I've been thinking that we might be able to us hay or straw bales as insulation around the dirt part of the proceedings...I should think that would provide quite a lot of protection from the sun on the soil. Shoot, we could even maybe make the potato "bed" out of the bales! They should last a season or two and then they can be composted.

 

[digitS']

I am no 'tater expert, despite my location. I am actually between 2 major potato growing regions in the US. However, southern Idaho is hundreds of miles away and the potato fields of central Washington are a 100 miles west. Moreover, the soil is vastly different. This isn't decomposed basalt that I have to grow in -- this is Rocky Mountain glacial till!

For many years, I did not grow potatoes, at all. I concentrated on crops that were more valuable. Still, it makes a good deal of sense for me to grow spuds. Especially since there are so many wonderful varieties and they are so tasty !

Years ago, I had a total crop failure and I want to caution you about applying very much material that field mice can hide under . . . develop their highways . . . build their rodent metropolises . . . and literally chew on every single potato that grows under all that material .

After trying to grow them under rain-spoiled alfalfa hay, I went back to planting them in the ground about 10 years ago -- success! Not always - wonderful - success but they've never failed me. This season, I probably had 3/4th the yield as compared to last year when there was 1 pound of spuds in every 1 square foot of potato bed. There are gardeners who can do better than that but think of it, if an average family garden is 1,000 square feet and one-quarter is in potatoes . . .

Steve

 

[Mickey328]

That would be a big ole passel of potatoes, that's for sure! Since the only way I can store them is to can them, we won't grow scads of them, but I do want to have at least some. Oh, what I wouldn't give for a root cellar!

 

[digitS']

Mickey, you might want to think about an "above-ground" root cellar.

I once lived just outside of Moscow, Idaho. No - still not potato country. However, there was a storage cellar a few hundred yards from my home. A clear, unobstructed view of this "bump" in the landscape . . .

I don't know what they stored in there. Never once did I see the farmer outside the wooden doors of what must have been a housesized structure under a big ol' pile of dirt. It could have been ice and not some root crop but I suspect that potatoes were grown for the community and stored in that "cellar" many years ago.

There is also something called a "potato clamp" and you can google that to see a diagram. It may well not work if your soil really doesn't drain well and you have severe winter frosts. . . Wouldn't it be wonderful for us to live where you could just leave them where they grow and harvest them thru the winter as they are needed?

Steve

 

[Mickey328]

That it would Steve! Our soil is very heavy clay so it doesn't drain well at all. When its wet it weighs a ton and when it's dry it's like concrete Grandpa once built himself an above ground root cellar and it did really well, but it was a different place and very different soil. Our yard is also too small for one, but I tell ya...when we get some acreage...look out! We gonna have all kinds of stuff.