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Re: Potato update

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

Richard,
I know what you mean about producing great plants.  Ours are planted in beds
16' x 2'.  We lined the bottom of the beds with garden cloth to keep out the
digging critters.  They may be planted a bit too close tho'.  Hope I get
some taters from the beautiful plants. The two beds of potatoes didn't get
much in the way of amendment to the soil and they are growing great. Plants
are about 2-3 feet tall already!  I've picked off and killed about 6 potato
beetles so far.  Not really a bad problem. It's amazing how they found the
potatoes!  There havn't been any planted here for years and there aren't any
around for miles. Hope they stay away!  Maybe next year I'll make boxes for
they all over the yard.  They would make a great temporary hedge.  We
planted Kennebec and one other red variety the name of which is escaping me
now but the flowers are purple.  When we covered them we had the same
problem with the plants being different sizes.  All we did was to add a bit
of soil around the base of the plants while they were still growing.  I
didn't cover the entire plant but just 4-5 inches up from the bottom.  Some
of the smaller plants are getting the dirt run-off from the larger ones.
And dirt runs off when it rains.
Good luck with your taters!
Cathy

----- Original Message -----
From: "Betz, Richard" <RBetz@randomhouse.com>
To: <sqft@listbot.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2000 12:42 PM
Subject: Potato update


> Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>
> Hi all,
>
> I just wanted to keep you all up to date with how my potatoes are doing. I
> am using one of those circular potato barrels for the first time this
year.
> The barrel was very easy to set up. I set it up to have a diameter of 3
> feet. I tilled the soil inside the barrel and then placed my Russian
Banana
> fingerlings into the soil. I then covered the seed potatoes with a thin
> layer of hay then soil on top of that. They took a little while to sprout
> but once they did they have really taken off! My one problem that I seem
to
> have is that the plants are all different sizes. Am I supposed to cover
the
> entire plant or do I leave 4 inches or so exposed? I find it a little
> difficult trying to cover the really large plants without covering the
> smaller plants. I am amazed at just how quickly these plants are growing,
> the barrel will be filled in no time. So, just to let you all know, I
would
> definitely recommend this potato barrel. The great thing about it is that
> once the potatoes are done I can then use it as a compost bin until next
> years potatoes are ready to plant! I just hope that the plants are
actually
> producing potatoes and not just great looking plants! I'll keep you all
> informed.
>
> Thanks for listening,
> Richard
> Brooklyn, NY
>
>
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