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Re: Potato Help

Hi Greg,

> I have been away for a couple of weeks on vacation and when I
> returned I found my potato plants (Yukon Gold) had grown
> tremendously. They are 12-18" over the top of the last addition of
> compost to the mound.

 :-) !!

> My question is this...do I cut them back first or do I just add that
> much compost/soil to properly hill them up?

Don't cut them, that would set them back.  The tops will die back on their own
later, their nutrients returning to the spuds, helping them to size up.

You don't need to add any more compost or soil now, you've done well by the
sound of it.  Straw would be all you need for the spuds to grow in.  It's a
little bit trickier getting the straw in there when the plants stand that tall
but can be done, just loosen it well first.  As the plants continue growing
mulch with more straw.

> If they grow this well when I leave and neglect them, I may just stop
> mothering them all together and see what happens. Evidently Mother
> Nature does a better job than I can. <grin>

She's well practiced and can teach us a few things, eh?  ;-)  It's nice when the
weather cooperates and waters your garden just the right amount.  We're having
lots of weather changes this year and although it's been warm we've only had to
water our garden three or four times this season.

On mulch, another note - I'd sythed down a particularly weedy area near my
garden last summer and made a nice 5' tall pile of the cuttings.  I just did the
area again the other day and noticed the pile from last year had nearly
dissapeared.  What was there was about 10" of very flattened material (deep
snow last winter), the bottom half of it loamy black compost teeming with worms,
rove beetles and scores of other critters.  I was tempted to scoop it up and
transport it to my garden ... But we can do the same thing in our own gardens by
mulching plenty and making healthy, living soil right where we want it.  And in
a real sense Mother Nature is then doing a better job than we possibly could!

> Thanks
> Greg

Cheers

   ____________________
  |                    |
  |     Bob Carter     | Kootenay Bay, BC, Canada
  |  bcarter@awinc.com | Zone 6b
  |____________________|


He who laughs last probably doesn't understand the joke.

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