With so much rain and not-bone-chilling weather (not warm, just cool and perfect for potato plants), the potato plants are growing like gangbusters.
The first rows, sprouted grocery spuds, needed to have their trenches filled in. I'm behind on that due to back problems, but getting better. I tried to be ergonomic, not put my back into it, and fill in the major parts where the plants were largest. Those were planted Feb 13. I think. So this is three months of growing, but the first part of that quite cold.
The ones I bought as official seed potatoes in March, and planted March 12, are growing equally well. I had dug trenches about a foot deep, piling the soil between the rows. Now I'm filling those embankments back into the trenches around the potato plants. Between my physical limitations and the rains, weeds grew like weeds (LOL). Most of those get sort of incidentally removed as I relocate the soil back into the trenches around the potato plants. It's not "Martha Stewart" classy, but then I'm more Betty Crocker than Martha Stewart, anyway. Or Fred Flintstone, who is much younger than me.
Then I fed these plants with some soluble tomato fertilizer. I prefer organic but we cant always be perfect about these things. Potatoes are heavy feeders when young, and we want them to grow strong and produce generously.
Meanwhile, almost all of the other potato starts are emerging from the ground. The most recent rows, from mid April, show new plants here and there.
Here are the first red potatoes (sprouted grocery spuds) that I planted in the big container planter on April 6. So in less than a month, we have robust, healthy looking plants. I had mixed organic tomato fertilizer with the soil, per label instructions. They are not ready to fill in soil around the plants yet. Soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment