For the first time, exbf saw my little potato plants. He was duly impressed. I keep my watering can by the pot and water them every other day if it does not rain. At night I cover the pot and uncover it every morning. I told him I traded chickens for potatoes to tend.
He was not coming right behind me, so I asked him what he was doing, sort of muddling around on his two canes. He was searching for a safe place to pee. Unless someone looks through the knot hole in the fence, he is safe. I need to get him a bucket so I can spread the urine, either for fertilizer or for scaring raccoons away.
Right now, I have a flattened cardboard box to cover the potato plant with a pipe to hold it down against wind. Soon, I will take one of the oven racks and attach white material to it so I will not have to remove the cover every day. Sun and rain can reach the plants. The setup will be like a row cover, only a pot cover. Tomorrow, I need to add more dirt to cover the potato plants.
Someone told me potatoes can stand almost anything except frost. I suppose that is true. The cloth will keep the freezing winds from their tender leaves. It is the freezing wind that kills.
While I was peeling Russets last night, I noticed minute sprouts forming. So, I cut three and put them in a dark cabinet to sprout more. Maybe I can plant these if things go right.
Today, he took me to Lowe's to return something. That was a fail. However, I always sneak away to the plants. Since it was warm enough even with no socks and just a thin sweater, I was in no hurry to come back to him. He puts the seat back and sleeps, anyway.
Flower bulbs were 75% off. As I continued to the other side of the display, I found that food bulbs were also 75% off. I purchased a bag of yellow onions, 120 plants for only $1, including tax, originally $3.75.
At that price, if I get three big yellow onions, I will break even. So, now I need to find a place in full sun to plant 120 plants or give some away.
I may buy garlic to plant tomorrow. I would love to have some tulips this spring. Remember the year I posted tulip pictures in every other post?
Your turn
Does anyone plant potatoes, onion or garlic this time of year? Remember, I live in north central Alabama. Any hints? Do yellow or white onions grow best?
My gosh, what a green thumb you have! And not the easy stuff either. You are going for professional green thumb status!
ReplyDeleteI am just trying, not succeeding yet. lol. Oh, gee, I thought these were easy. I hope to get the professional green thumb status. It just seems dumb for me not to try. If this saves me money and gives me cleaner food, I will be ecstatic.
DeleteNothing beats food you grow yourself. And nothing makes me madder than critters eating my food. Particularly when they take a bite out of each perfect tomato. I have been after my husband to try to grow potatoes in the garage in a trash can. But he thinks gardens are a summer thing. Good hint about the bulbs at Lowe's. I will check them out.
ReplyDeletecarol,
DeleteI with you on taking one bite. I always take the tomatoes and stack them up, hoping the animal will just go ahead and eat them instead of wasting my tomatoes. You need light for the potatoes, so don't grow them in the garage. You can wrap a can with black wrap or spray paint it to keep it warm enough. Or, do like I do, plant near a heat sink.
Howdy! This is cosmic connectivity in action... my husband and I have just been watching "An Edwardian Farm" on YouTube, and they've just planted a whole field of potatoes. We were considering trying container planting potatoes, and have been looking up "how to" videos about that. Then, you pop up on my blog, and I pop over to yours, and ... you're blogging about growing potatoes! Amazing, innit? I'm looking forward to rummaging around here and seeing what other interesting stuff you've got going on.
ReplyDeleteMrs,
DeleteHowdy! I am glad we are connected! More on planting potatoes tomorrow. Unless you have a field and like to dig, plant like they did. A less labor intensive method involves pots, buckets, and a little dirt. Yes, it is amazing. One woman from the PNE found my blog while trying to figure out if raccoons were on her balcony. We wrote back and forth as she sent me pictures and I recommended how to get rid of them. That, too, was amazing to me. Some of my stuff is more interesting than the other stuff is. Welcome. You can join other friends as followers.