Liftoff!!

The first seedling has sprouted!  It took about 4 days.  I planted these late on Sunday afternoon and have my first sprout this afternoon.  There are several more seeds getting ready to pop.  When I checked on the seedlings around lunchtime today, I noticed several with their necks poking out, so we should be ready to move them to the light station in a day or so. 

As I've monitored the cups, I noticed that they tended to dry out faster than when I'd started seeds previously.  I did two things.  First, I lowered the lid so that there was a smaller opening between the lid and the top of the roaster.  Secondly, I watered twice or three times a day with WARM water.  I don't use really hot water, but it should be good and warm.  I have a 1 liter soda bottle that I use.  The lid has pin holes in the top so it acts as a watering can and comes out in a gentle stream.  I've also been using a moisture meter to test the soil and a thermometer to monitor the soil temp.

Also waiting in the wings are the seed potatoes.  This year, I have Purple Majesty (purple skin and purple flesh), Yukon Gold (white), and Red Lasota potatoes.  I've had them on a shelf in my kitchen pre-sprouting.  They're doing great!  My plant out date is Feb. 14th, so they still have a few weeks to wait and grow.  The Red Lasotas haven't sprouted fully yet, but they do have a lot of eyes forming and I can see several spout wannabes on them.  I also have some pretty red-almost burgundy skinned potatoes that my husband picked up at Sprout's a month or so ago that have been growing since we've not used them.  I'm thinking they'll get planted as well. 

While the potatoes are waiting and the first batch of seeds are growing under the lights, I'll start the last of the tomato seeds and start the first batch of tomatillos and peppers.

I Hilled

Some of my potato plants were getting tall enough to progress to the next stage, hilling. This helps the potatoes produce more potatoes. I'm using leaves as my hilling medium, but you can use compost, soil, straw, or mulch. Basically, you pile your hilling medium up the stems of the plants, leaving only about 2" or so of leaves showing.

Hilling has many purposes. One, it cools the soil, which here in Texas is very much needed. Second, it creates space for tuber development. All tubers (spuds) form at the same level as the seed piece and higher, so you are also creating more growing space. Third, it keeps the sun's rays from the tubers. Exposure to the sun causes 'greening' of the potatoes, which often taste bitter when eaten. Fourth, it gives you something to do with all those leaves and dried grass clippings in your yard. Fifth, it helps with drainage and prevents weed growth. Lastly, it makes harvesting easier since the tubers are in the leaves, straw, dead grass clippings, compost or whatever you use.

Here are the first containers with leaves. I only hilled around the plants that were 6"-8" tall. I covered the stems and any leaves at the lower level. If you're overly zealous, you can clip off the lower leaves. I am lazy, so I didn't do that.

We already need to add either another layer of sides or some kind of wire caging to the box so we can add more leaves!

Same planter, different angle. In this pic, you can see that I have too much plant showing and need to add more leaves. I know what I'll be doing on Easter Sunday! LOL

The big blue planter. One of these plants is growing like it's on steroids! Couldn't completely cover the bottom with leaves because of the new little shoot poking its head out.

Junior sprout!

This plant is appropriately hilled--for now.

I'll continue hilling until the plants start blooming and stop growing. Then they'll start making tubers!!

For more information on potato growing, check out the growing guide on Ronningers Potato Farm's website. Scroll down the page to the *.pdf documents under the form for the paper catalog.

The Great Potato Project

It's finally stopped snowing and freezing enough during the day that I have been able to get out in the garden and PLANT! If you've read some of my previous posts regarding potatoes, you'll remember that this year, I'm growing potatoes for the first time. Because we have such icky soil here, I decided to grow them in containers after watching this video from the Farmer's Almanac website.



While I'm not using a trash can, I am using some large containers.



You can clearly see the smaller of the containers in this pic. The big blue square thing at the top of the pic is the 2nd container. It has 2 varieties of potatoes planted in it. The smaller containers each have one variety.

DH made the "sides" on the smaller containers, then we'll add chicken wire (poultry wire) to the top as we start going up with growth of the plant and the potatoes. Because the blue thing on the bottom has these HUGE indentations in the bottom where the legs are formed, we placed a layer of leaves on the bottom of the container to fill up the holes and to keep the subsequent dirt from falling through the vent/drainage holes. We then put about 6" of ammended soil in the container. I lined up my taters that I'd cut and dipped in wood ash over the weekend.



We then shoveled another 4" or so of dirt on top of the potato pieces and topped it all off with a very thin layer of leaves, just to help keep insulated against the still cool temps at night and to keep the soil from drying out too quickly during the day.



One of the really stupid things I did several weeks ago was move the potatoes from labeled containers to the egg cartons without labeling them. I just knew I'd be able to remember which variety of potato was which! Ummm....not so much! So now, I've planted my potatoes and the only ones I'm really sure about are the Kennebecs and the fingerlings. I have no idea which are the Reds and which are the Purple Vikings. The Kennebecs are planted on one side of the big container with what I think are the Purple Vikings. There's Reds in this small container (I think) and the fingerlings are in the other small container. Should provide some excitement come harvest time!

Potato Update

We have survived more freezing temps and SNOW, a foot of the white stuff, and it's time to get busy planting the taters. However, the Handy Husband promised to make me a couple more potato planters. It's only happening in my imagination..... Soooooo, the taters are hanging out on top of my hutch in the kitchen. I moved them to cardboard egg cartons so they could get more air circulation. I took them down today to check on them and this is what they looked like.

The Purple Vikings (right) and Red Norlands (on the left)

The Banana Fingerlings (in the background) and the Kennebecs (foreground)

Green growth is good!

Twins on the Purple Vikings

I hope to get them cut in the next day or so and in their containers by the weekend. I must motivate the husband first, though.

Potato Update and Onions

The potatoes are flourishing in their new settings. I check them occasionally to make sure they're not getting soggy or rotting. So far, so good!

Red Norland

Kennebecs and Purple Vikings

Banana Fingerlings

My "walrus" banana fingerling

But, apparently, the best place for potatoes to start budding out is in the basket where I keep the potatoes from the grocery store!



Another new veggie in the garden this year is onions. We tried, very unsuccessfully last year to grow them. We planted them wayyyyyyyy too late and they gave up the ghost before we really even got started. Here are the onions waiting to go out. I have 2 bunches of red burgundy and 3 bunches of 1015Ys, "the" sweet Texas onion. Their packed in some dirt and I water them about every other day. Didn't want to leave them without water as they'd die. Still a few weeks away from planting time, so I gotta keep them babies alive!



In other news, the seeds are sorted and my catalog of what we're growing is made. I'm still looking for a few things, like a different okra variety and possibly another variety of pole beans. Other than that, I think we're set! To see my spreadsheet, you can visit it on Google docs. Stephanie's Spring 2010 Plant List Once you get there, just click on the blue links at the bottom to go to either herbs, flowers, or veggies.

Potatoes

Gardening season is getting ready to fire up around here. I'm so excited! One of the first things we'll plant are potatoes. This will be my first year growing potatoes, so I didn't order too many (1/2 lb. of 4 varieties). I'm also fairly clueless about potatoes, other than how to eat them, so this will definitely be a learning experience for me.

Around New Year's I ordered my potatoes from Ronniger Potato Farm. My planting date is Valentine's Day, so I requested my taters to be shipped the week of January 17th (this week). My potatoes arrived the first week of January during the Deep Freeze! They came wrapped in mesh bags clearly labeled with the variety. I ordered Red Norland, Kennebec, Purple Viking, and Banana fingerlings.


According to the Gardening Gurus over at Dave's Garden, you're supposed to take the seed potatoes out of the bags and let them start growing. (I grow my store-bought potatoes VERY well, so I'm an expert at this part! LOL) I put them in some kind of container and labeled each container with the variety so when I go to plant them, I'll know what I'm putting where.

Initially, I put them in the enclosed sun room where they'd get lots of warm air and sunshine. I have since found out that I should put them in a place that gets indirect light and not too warm temps as the warmer temps will cause them to rot faster. I don't think you can plant rotten potatoes. You can however, put them in the compost pile. Been there, done that!

Here was my setup yesterday out in the sunroom:



And today, on the kitchen counters. Please excuse the mess.




As you can see from the pics, some are already starting to sprout. That's great news!

When I plant them in a few weeks, I'll be planting some of them in this container. DH originally designed and built it to be a compost bin, but that's never happened, so I'm going to put it to good use. It's made from some kind palettes that they used to get where he worked. It has plenty of drain holes and ventilation. I think it's going to be perfect!


He just told me today that he's got more of these blue things in his old van, so he's going to build more containers for me! I didn't know he'd been holding out on me. :)