This spud’s for you

A couple of hours before “the” storm hit , I got most of this season’s attempt @ potatoes in the dirt.

Last year my attempt at growing them in straw wasn’t particularly productive. I believe this was due to a couple of reasons- First, I didn’t check out whether anyone had success in this climate growing the varieties I ordered. Maybe someone has but I’ve never seen any of them listed as ideal for Georgia. Second, I chose to put the tuber pieces on top of the soil and cover them with straw vs burying them under a little soil. Cricket nymphs had a field day on them and by the time I discovered this the damage was done. At this point I covered them up with dirt and then put the straw back on. Several still sprouted but the yields just plain stunk.

So this year I am starting over using recommended varieties for this climate and soil (Red Pontiac, Yukon Gold and Russet).

I built two fairly deep potato boxes out of shelving I salvaged from our renovation project and installed them behind the boxwoods in the back portion of the yard. In each went 5 large tuber pieces ( Red Pontiac and Yukon Gold).

A large part of one of the 16×2 beds will host spuds as well; 2 rows of tubers roughly 1 ft away in the sections between the lettuce and chard:

And finally, the western portion of the new 16×3′ bed next to the asparagus will include a long line of potato plants at the base of the “Christmas” pole limas. The dirt piled up on the left side of the bed will be hilled up around the plants as they come up. (The beans can wait a little while for the weather to warm up)

Speaking of the Asparagus bed, the plants are continuing to send up new growth, with much of it already taller than me. ( My “anti-flop retaining rope and string is visible.)