Yay! I finally got my seed potatoes today! One pound is six smallish potatoes. Glad I didn't know that or I'd have bought two pounds. If I recall correctly you only need an eye or two so I can cut some of the larger ones in half.
The instructions say for optimal yield, plant 12 inches apart. Hmm, I don't recall where I got the idea for 6 inches but I will plant how many I have and space them out accordingly. It will probably end up being about 8 inches if my mental math works out. I'll do it tonight if the rain stops. Don't worry, I'll take pictures.
Check the comments for the 18th, Garden Girl tries to call me out. Ok, to be fair, I started it, but I'm all for a little friendly competition. Anyway, she's actually looking to ME to see if my Build-As-You-Grow bins succeed or not. THEN she may try them.
Let me just say I am really glad that the dozens of folks at Ft2Garden.com and GardenWeb that have said they're using the idea didn't wait for me to succeed before they tried it. Besides, the article I got the idea for the bins came from the Seattle Times in 2005. I'm sure they've been in use for far longer than that. So if you're thinking about doing it this year, go for it!
Actually, another reason GardenGirl may not be growing potatoes that they don't cost very much at the store. I was reading about that issue today in the Seattle P-I today in the Edibles column by Chris Smith, a retired WSU Master Gardener. He suggests 10 crops to grow in a "small urban space" aka SFG to my ears. Turns out I'm growing 7 of his ten and don't eat the other three or I'd grow them. Turns out I'm pretty smart huh? Not bad for a newbie gardener. Anyway, in the article Smith says he didn't pick potatoes because they're cheap in the store and don't taste much different, but the rest do taste better. Oh, and corn takes up too much space... sure does, it gets 44 SF of my 130. Anyway, I am growing what my family eats, even if other folks (my family included) think I'm silly to grow certain crops.
As I've said many times, I expect to make 100 mistakes this year, but it will all be worth it as I take that bowl out to the garden and harvest a salad. Or maybe when I boil some water and go shuck two ears as I'm walking back to drop them in 30 seconds after harvesting them. Let's see the sugar content drop in 30 seconds!
Finally, to anyone that came here because GardenGirl suggested it. Thank you for visiting. If you're a novice gardener like me, stick around. Maybe I'll stumble rather than you and when I pick myself up, you can learn how in case you falter as well. If you're a veteran, you can read all my challenges and recall making a few of them yourself in years past. Oh, and if you comment and help me solve an issue or provide some patience to allow nature to take its course, then all the better for everyone! Go ahead and sign up and comment away. I hope to get more genuine comments then spam. Finally, check out the Blogroll links. Judy is building an incredible one-stop-shop for all things SFG at Ft2Garden.com, and GardenWeb is a great place for just about everything garden related. Thank you again for reading. I seriously did not expect anyone to ever see this, but Judy said hundreds of new gardeners would come here and relate to me and learn from my mistakes. It is all worth it!
The reason, I'm not growing potato's is my family (husband) is on a low carb diet, so no sense in making him miserable.
ReplyDeletePatti
www.gardengirltv.com
That's the same reason I went on a diet with my wife and eventually we both lost a combined 100 lbs. She did Weight Watchers online and I did WW lite.
ReplyDeleteI just couldn't see eating a bacon cheeseburger when she had a salad, so I know how it is not to torture someone.
That said, all veggies are carbs. So I hope it's not ALL carbs your husband can't eat, or you're really torturing him with your massive garden.
Seriously though, it makes perfect sense. Glad you're helping him out! I promise I'll stop pestering you (about this). On to another topic... you made a video about eating Buggs Bunny! Or one of your cute ones you raise!
I know that all noise around this artificially made events won’t help. Come on guys wake up! It’s a lie! But you keep posting! Nobody will hear!
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