- Author: Alex Russell
When I first started growing vegetables at home, potatoes seemed like they would be impossible or gross. I didn't like the idea of digging them up and having to wash them endlessly before cooking them. I don't usually peel potatoes I buy from the store, so washing would be extra work.
It turned out there are more ways to grow potatoes than burying them under the dirt, and I tried one of them. And last year I finally got around to planting them in the ground and dealing with the mess of digging hem up. There are definitely pros and cons to both approaches. If you'd like to try potatoes yourself, this article might give you a head start.
How to plant and grow potatoes
First of all, let's clear up what we mean when we say seed potatoes. It's not seeds, like tomato seeds or corn seeds. Seed potatoes are actual potatoes that you plant. You order seed potatoes by weight. My order this year was for 2.5 pounds of two varieties.
Actual potato seeds are something else completely. That's called true potato seed, TPS for short. These are seeds harvested from the fruits of potato plants. Those fruits look like tiny tomatoes that mostly stay green or purple, though not all varieties of potato plant produce fruit.
Do not eat potato plant fruits—they are poisonous.
Planting seed potatoes—which are just, well, potatoes—is pretty simple. You can plant the entire potato in the ground an inch or two deep and call it good. If you'd like to try and boost your productivity with more individual plants, you can cut up each seed potato into smaller pieces as long as each piece has at least one eye.
The eye of the potato is a bud that pushes out the stem that will become the plant above ground. Without an eye on the piece of potato that goes in the ground, you're just feeding worms. Also, when cutting up a potato to plant it's important to let the cut side callus (dry) for a few days before going into the ground to reduce the risk of rotting.
It's at this point, when the potatoes are callused and ready to touch soil, that you've got some planting choices. The only mandatory aspect of planting is to ensure the new potatoes that you eventually harvest don't get any direct sunlight. Sunlight increases production of solanine, which is toxic.
Potatoes are a pretty easy crop. They can grow in pots as well as in the ground. People have planted them in towers of straw, which I guess is fine unless summer temps get so high that they suck out all the moisture. Otherwise, a lot is possible.
Planting potatoes under deep mulch
This approach to growing potatoes is relatively simple, and it was the first method I ever tried with potatoes. I did it because I didn't want to have to dig them out of the ground. I also read a number of blog posts across the web that made it seem like such an easy—and clean—way to grow and harvest potatoes.
First, you amend the soil however you normally would before planting. For me, this is a top dressing of composted manure a few weeks before the soil warms up. Then you place the pieces of potato—callused, cut side down—right on the surface of the soil. Cover that with a deep mulch. I prefer alfalfa straw, because it's high in nitrogen and it has no grass or weed seeds in it.
Did growing under deep mulch work as the Internet promised it would? Yes and no. It was easy, that much is true. I pulled back the straw and there were my potatoes. I picked them up and put them in a bucket. They were also pretty much clean. Most were pristine, actually.
Production was overall incredible. Total yield was roughly ten times the weight of what I planted, though I lost some of this to greening from sun exposure. I wrote all about this experience a couple years ago.
Downside? Pillbugs and earwigs also got their share. This is the downside in general of gardening under deep mulch. It's a breeding ground for pillbugs and earwigs.
The year after this experience I had the bright idea to completely cover the seed potatoes with compost from my own compost bin, and then cover that with deep alfalfa mulch. My yields were awful! This was entirely because throughout that beautiful black compost were more earwigs and pillbugs than I imagined possible.
Planting potatoes in the dirt
Last year, I gave in and planted my seed potatoes the way it seemed everyone else did. I dug little holes beside my irrigation line emitters and I planted them. Part of this felt like giving up. I would have filthy potatoes and I would have to peel them before I ate them. What fun I would have at the end of the season!
Those plants grew exceptionally well. They were veritable shrubs, and they leafed out earlier than everything else in in the spring. I planted two varieties, 'Purple Viking' and 'Blackberry'. 'Blackberry' came as microtubers, which are tiny little seed potatoes produced by tissue cultures instead of potatoes kept from a prior crop.
All together I planted 2.5 pounds of Purple Viking and ten 'Blackberry' potato microtubers. I weighed out most of the potatoes I harvested and by the end of the season counted up 16 pounds. That's a roughly 5x return from seed potatoes to dinner, not countings the ones I pulled early as new potatoes. Growing in the ground, I lost nothing to the pillbugs and earwigs.
Great, if dirty, potato yields
So what made the difference in yields? None of my thoughts on this would be scientific. They would not based on any comparison between the same seed potatoes grown in two different conditions.
That means the difference in yields could have been caused by a lot of things, from the quality of the seed potatoes themselves to more observable differences like different amounts of water, fertility or sunlight. That means it's impossible to attribute the difference in yields to the planting method itself.
It also doesn't really matter, not to me as long as I don't lose everything to pillbugs and earwigs. That's the luxury of being a home gardener. Whether yields are good or bad, it's all gardening.
What I do know is that I pulled out some pretty dirty potatoes, and I ended up peeling them before cooking. The meals they made were, of course, amazing. As I write this, I'm waiting for this year's seed potatoes to arrive.
Additional resource on potato growing from UC Santa Cruz: https://agroecology.ucsc.edu/resources/publications/grower-guides/pdf-downloads/potatoes.pdf
- Author: Cindy Yee
Karen Norton, my neighbor and friend, passed away peacefully at midnight after a brief illness. It seemed fitting to her master gardener friends that today is National Gardeners' Day. Karen was a very nice neighbor, veteran master gardener, and accomplished ceramist and art teacher. One of the things I will miss about her are the most enjoyable garden-themed ceramics classes she would hold in her garage studio twice a year.
When Karen put out an email re: a future class, if you were lucky enough to be on her mailing list, it was imperative to reply immediately. Her classes would fill within minutes. Even when I was late however, Karen always managed to fit me in. She even allowed me to invite my friends if she had space.
I really looked forward to her classes. They would always begin with a stroll around her gorgeous garden for inspiration. The first picture shows my leaf wreath, where I picked leaves in her garden that were then rolled onto the prepared clay, cut and affixed to the wreath form.
Karen's classes were so enjoyable partly because she greatly minimized the opportunities for mistakes by her students. Karen prepared and rolled out the clay herself beforehand, so we never had air bubbles in our clay (or resulting explosions in the kiln).
Drawing and painting seem to come naturally to me. But not so with ceramics. Karen was an unfailingly patient and helpful teacher, and never ever rolled her eyes at my many flubs. Thanks to her, every project of mine was a success and I love them all!
After the projects were glazed and fired, Karen would have an unveiling where we would "ooh" and "aah" over our beautiful work, followed by a potluck lunch in her lovely home.
RIP Karen. I will miss your friendship, and your ceramics classes. Have a wonderful time growing and tending your heavenly garden where everything blooms and nothing dies, until we meet again.
- Author: Jennifer DeDora
A few months ago, I decided to try out an idea I've had for a while, creating a “closed” terrarium. I say closed with quotations because over the six weeks I've been working on it I've opened it it 4 or 5 times to add or take away items and finesse the correct amount of water needed to create the perfect balance. It has now been closed for a month and it is actively growing and thriving! Here are the steps I followed to create this fun little habitat.
1. I ordered a terrarium kitonline for my first try at this, (I know, I know) but from now on I'll buy each portion individually as it is less costly and allows for more personalization.
2. The lowest/first layer is horticultural charcoal. This helps prevent mold and mildew.
3. The next layer is a drainage layer of gravel.
4. The next layer is a layer of larger gravel. The different layers help facilitate the water cycle and add visual appeal to the terrarium.
5. Next, I layered moss for moisture retention.
6. The next layer is a mixture of potting soil and native soil from outside. The reason for adding the outside soil is I plan on adding isopods (roliepolies) to my finished terrarium and they rely on organic matter to survive until the natural plant cycles take over.
7. After I added all the ground layers a good wipe down inside the glass was needed to beautify and add visibility to the terrarium.
8. Time for plants! I ordered a terrarium kit online that came with plants, but the plants weren't labeled! Grrr! But any plant that thrives in a warm, moist environment should work. The fern in particular is thriving.
9. Some crystals, bark, stones, decorative moss or small statuary will add to the beauty of the build. Any slowly rotting sticks or wood will also help keep the isopods eating well.
10. Water….vitally important. Water should be added with a spray bottle to the soil and plants. A few tweaks might be necessary to keep the right balance, it seems like a “feel” thing so I have no guidance about how much to add, everything should moist but not sopping.
11. Now it's time for optional “pets” Theisopod market is thriving. I joined anisopodFacebook group and they advised me to pick up a few. I purchased 15 and most are still thriving in there after a month of being completely enclosed.
12. Lighting-Terrariums do require light. I bought a lamp with a timer to put my terrarium under, but any well lit window area should provide enough sunshine.
13. The top. When you're finished setting up all the parts and you're ready to display don't forget to securely close the top so as to not let the isopods escape or water dissipate.
I am so happy I went out on a limb and tried this! This was my first venture into closed terrariums, but I'm sure it won't be my last!
- Author: Mike Gunther
Spring blossoms full of color
Super blooms beginning their show
Spring fever, allergies and plant rebirth
- Author: Paula Pashby
I recently received a gift from a friend, a lovely brooch pin that is shaped like a lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) flower, with beautiful oval-shaped petals. My friend said that she chose the lotus brooch because of my love for yoga and nature.
“Lotus” is a term used in yoga to describe a cross-legged sitting pose for meditation, where each foot is place on the opposite thigh. The lotus flower represents strength, self-realization, and positive transformation. The reason the lotus flower represents these positive elements is because the plant seems to be “reborn” each day during its bloom cycle.
The lotus plant is rooted in mud,and the flower will rise above water for a full dose of bright sunshine. At night, the whole plant - beautiful petals and all – will “dive” back under the mud where it instead will remain immersed all evening. The next day the flower will again push up through the mud and surface to open its petals for the day. The petals have a waxy protective coating that repels water and dirt, so the flower emerges cleansed of the mud and ready for a sunny day of nourishment. The flower petals will open clean and shiny each day, which is why the lotus has become a symbolic association with rebirth.
I now wear the lotus brooch gift on my favorite gardening hat. I appreciate the sentiment of the gift, which is the same feeling I carry whenever I am digging in earth while tending my garden.