A straight forward method on organic gardening. How to prepare your soil, how to build a compost bin, seeding through harvest and preserving your garden bounty. A strategy to incorporate natural concepts, without using any dangerous chemicals. Also choosing the right vegetables and fruit for their nutritional value.
i would like to grow potatoes on the allotment next year and would just like to know the best way of planting potatoes in compost bags.
i would like to grow some earlies and some maincrop – does anybody know the most heavy yielding?
where is the best place to get a few seed potatoes from?
i am situated in Suffolk, UK.
POTATOES ARE EASY TO GROW VEGETABLES
One of the easiest root crops to grow is potatoes. Plus, they’re fun to grow and a small area can provide a nice yield of this tasty vegetable. Early spring is the best time to plant them. So here are a few hints on how to grow potatoes in the garden:
One of the bonuses of growing potatoes is that you can eat them at various stages of growth. The young ‘new potatoes’ are often harvested and cooked with peas and gravy, while most are allowed to reach maturity and are eaten or stored for use throughout the winter.
VARIETIES – choose the varieties that fit your cooking needs and taste preferences. Keep in mind some varieties have special attributes such as being particularly suited for baking; French fries; boiling or for making hashbrowns. Here are just a few of the most popular ones:
WHITE ROSE – probably the best known variety. This early white potato is nice for boiling; potato salad but is only fair for baking. It is only considered fair for storing purposes.
NETTED GEM – another popular variety. Considered one of the best for baking. This late russet Burbank variety stores well.
KENNEBEC – another late maturing white potato variety. An excellent one for fries; chips; baking or hashbrowns.
NORGOLD RUSSET – excellent early variety for baking or boiling. Does not store too well.
YELLOW FINNISH – this is one of the favorites at our home. It is a smaller sized potato with a yellow interior of excellent flavor. My wife likes to bake it in the microwave oven. It is a versatile potato and stores moderately well.
RED PONTIAC – is a popular red skinned variety of average quality. It stores quite well.
RED NORLAND – this is a well-rounded red variety that has good qualities for baking or boiling.
Needless to say, there are many other varieties that merit use in the home garden.
SELECTING POTATOES – make certain that you choose only certified seed potatoes for planting in the garden. Certification means the potatoes are free of insect or disease problems and that they have not been treated with a growth retardant. Garden centers; nurseries; garden outlets and hardware stores generally feature certified seed potatoes during the spring planting season.
SOIL PREPARATION – potatoes grow in just average soil, so a great deal of soil preparation is not really needed. However the addition of some compost or a little peat moss is beneficial. Avoid using fresh manure or lime in the soil where potatoes are to be grown, as it tends to cause scab on the potatoes. The addition of either 5-10-10 or 10-20-20 fertilizer is beneficial. Mix the fertilizer into the planting soil, prior to planting. Till or spade the soil to a depth of ten or twelve inches.
CUTTING POTATOES – if the seed potatoes are small to medium sized, plant the whole potato. If they are large sized, you can cut them in half, or quarter them. Each section should have two or three ‘growth eyes’. After cutting, let the cut surface callus-over before planting them.
SPACING – potatoes can be grown in many different ways. If you have lots of room the cut pieces can be spaced about a foot apart in rows which are spaced two to three feet apart. Then cover with about an inch of soil. Pull in additional soil as the plants develop. Always be certain the surface tubers are covered with soil.
Hilling or mounding is another method of growing potatoes. Three or four pieces of potatoes are planted on a mound of soil, pulling in additional soil as the potatoes develop.
You can grow potatoes in the ground, in stacks of straw or mulch, in black plastic bags, in garbage cans or to stacks of tires. Potatoes can be a fun and easy crop to grow.
Field growing: This is the conventional way most potatoes are grown. Generally, the seed potatoes are planted about 12 inches apart in rows that are spaced 2 to 3 feet apart. The seed pieces’ are planted about 1 inch deep, then covered with additional soil as the sprouts develop.
Straw: For centuries, Scandinavians have grown potatoes in stacks of straw or other mulching material. Potatoes are planted above ground in the straw, and as the vines begin to grow, additional straw` or mulch is mounded up around the base of the plants. This results in a yield of very clean potatoes. New potatoes can be harvested easily even before the potato vines mature completely.
Under plastic or in plastic garbage bags: Garden soil or a commercial potting soil can be used to grow the potatoes in the bags, Fold over the top half of the bag, fill with soil, and plant a certified seed potato that has been cut in half. The plastic bag can be set above ground wherever it’s convenient. Punch holes in the bottom of the bag for drainage.
You also can plant potatoes under black plastic. Cut open a piece of the black plastic, and plant a potato piece. The potato tubers will develop as they would in the open ground. However, the tubers that develop close to the surface of the soil are shaded by the black plastic and should not develop the green inedible portions that often are found on other tubers. The black plastic also will aid in controlling weeds.
Garbage cans or containers: Old garbage cans, or wooden or fiberboard-type containers are suitable for growing potatoes, if they have adequate drainage. You can conserve space by growing them in this manner. A word of caution, though: The plants tend to dry out more rapidly when grown in containers, so additional watering will be needed. Otherwise, you’re likely to end up with misshapen tubers.
Tires: There are two different methods of growing potatoes in tires. One way is to stack three or four tires, fill them with soil and plant two to three seed pieces about 1 or 2 inches deep in the top tire. The black of the tire absorbs and radiates heat, and there usually is a heavy yield.
Another method is to put a tire on the ground, fill it with soil and plant the potatoes within the tire. Plant two seed potatoes, whole or halved, about 2 inches deep. Once the potatoes have developed 3 or 4 inches of foliage growth, a second tire can be put on top of the first, Fill in with more soil, always leaving at least 2 inches of leaf growth above the soil level. Continue to fill as the plants grow. Once you’ve filled in the center of the second tire, continue the stack to a height of three or four tires. Keep in mind you must always leave about 2 inches of foliage showing.
Last year, we grew potatoes in eight stacks of tires, using eight: different potato varieties. Each tire stack averaged 11 pounds of potatoes: Some readers have reported yields of up to 38 pounds per stack. Others have reported poor results, averaging as few as one or two potatoes per stack. Over-watering or the use of too much high nitrogen fertilizer could be the reason for poor yields.
The reason you can grow potatoes successfully in this manner is that potatoes develop on stems above the roots. Of course, it’s for this reason that mounding or mulching potatoes is recommended so highly.
Some of the potatoes that we grew in tire stacks were: not harvested until January of this year. So the tire stacks also provided an ideal place to store them throughout fall and winter.
WATERING – Black or hollow centers on potatoes is often caused by over-watering. Irregular watering causes irregular shaped or knobby potatoes. As a guideline, water potatoes (thoroughly) weekly during warmer summer weather.
HARVESTING – New young potatoes are harvested when peas are ripe or as the potato plants begin to flower. For storage of full sized potatoes harvest them when the vines turn yellow or have died-back.
STORAGE – Keep them in the dark, in a spot where temperatures are about 40 degrees.
Whether they’re rooftop dwellers or nestled under a bedroom balcony, your Roma tomatoes and burrito-bound jalapenos will thrive with healthy compost, creating fewer scraps for the landfill as well. Our urban-savvy Spinning composter is made of 50% post-consumer recycled plastic and produces up to 85 lbs. of odorless, fertile compost in about a month. Removable base collects water drippings – a nutritious byproduct. Eight built-in rollers spin to mix in oxygen and speed decomposition. Secure latching door is hinged for filling, detaches for emptying. 31″”H x 26″”L x 21″”W; 7 cu. ft; 14 lbs. Arrives assembled. Canada. Additional shipping charge may apply. See “”Shipping Information”" for details. Play the video clip, at left, to learn how to make compost at home – even in the city. 31″” High 26″” Long 21″” Wide 7 cu. ft. 14 lbs. Arrives assembled
I live in a small town and would like to make compost from grass clippings, vegetable peels, leaves, etc. How do I get started with this?
Get a roll of chicken wire and roll it in a circle, connect it and set it out in sunny corner of your yard/property. Toss your grass clippings (key to high nitrogen which gets it "cooking"), leaves, kitchen food scraps (no meat, oil or fish) and water well. Mix often with a garden tine or shovel. Keep moist enough so that if you pick up a bunch, you can sqeeze a small amount of moisture from it. If you want to enclose it a little more: get 4 pallets from a shipping dept (you can probably get these for nothing) and connect three sides permanently, and connect the 4th side with hinges and a hook to keep it closed. That way you can "open" it to mix and remove, and you can cover with a tarp in heavy rain to keep it from getting too wet. When it is ready to use, you can lift the whole thing: wire or pallets, and move to another area to start over.
THE FIELD GUIDE II FOR ACTIVELY AERATED compost TEA by Dr. Elaine Engham Elaine not only understands the soil food web she has knowledge on how to ensure a healthy food web to promote plant growth and reduce reliance on inorganic chemicals. Elaine is passionate about sharing her knowledge and research findings with those at the grass roots level of working with soils. That includes not just farmers who grow crops but also fruit and vegetable growers greens keepers parks and gardens workers nursery operators etc. Elaine offers a way forward for sustainable farming. A way of improving the soils we work with now and a way to keep soils in this healthier state without damaging any other eco-system.
pls help as i just moved into an apartment thats on the third floor so i hve no garden but a good sized balcony,i hve several container pots on the balcony and i want to know when i should replace the compost in it.
you do not hve to replace the entire lot of compost in your containers, once every year, idealy spring u should removed about 3 inches layer of old compost and replace it with fresh compost with a little granualr feed mixed with it.
Whether they’re rooftop dwellers or nestled under a bedroom balcony, your Roma tomatoes and burrito-bound jalapenos will thrive with healthy compost, creating fewer scraps for the landfill as well. Our urban-savvy Spinning composter is made of 50% post-consumer recycled plastic and produces up to 85 lbs. of odorless, fertile compost in about a month. Removable base collects water drippings – a nutritious byproduct. Eight built-in rollers spin to mix in oxygen and speed decomposition. Secure latching door is hinged for filling, detaches for emptying. 31″”H x 26″”L x 21″”W; 7 cu. ft; 14 lbs. Arrives assembled. Canada. Additional shipping charge may apply. See “”Shipping Information”" for details. Play the video clip, at left, to learn how to make compost at home – even in the city. 31″” High 26″” Long 21″” Wide 7 cu. ft. 14 lbs. Arrives assembled
Whether they’re rooftop dwellers or nestled under a bedroom balcony, your Roma tomatoes and burrito-bound jalapenos will thrive with healthy compost, creating fewer scraps for the landfill as well. Our urban-savvy Spinning composter is made of 50% post-consumer recycled plastic and produces up to 85 lbs. of odorless, fertile compost in about a month. Removable base collects water drippings – a nutritious byproduct. Eight built-in rollers spin to mix in oxygen and speed decomposition. Secure latching door is hinged for filling, detaches for emptying. 31″”H x 26″”L x 21″”W; 7 cu. ft; 14 lbs. Arrives assembled. Canada. Additional shipping charge may apply. See “”Shipping Information”" for details. Play the video clip, at left, to learn how to make compost at home – even in the city. 31″” High 26″” Long 21″” Wide 7 cu. ft. 14 lbs. Arrives assembled
Whether they’re rooftop dwellers or nestled under a bedroom balcony, your Roma tomatoes and burrito-bound jalapenos will thrive with healthy compost, creating fewer scraps for the landfill as well. Our urban-savvy Spinning composter is made of 50% post-consumer recycled plastic and produces up to 85 lbs. of odorless, fertile compost in about a month. Removable base collects water drippings – a nutritious byproduct. Eight built-in rollers spin to mix in oxygen and speed decomposition. Secure latching door is hinged for filling, detaches for emptying. 31″”H x 26″”L x 21″”W; 7 cu. ft; 14 lbs. Arrives assembled. Canada. Additional shipping charge may apply. See “”Shipping Information”" for details. Play the video clip, at left, to learn how to make compost at home – even in the city. 31″” High 26″” Long 21″” Wide 7 cu. ft. 14 lbs. Arrives assembled
I’d like to start a small container in my room to make compost for my plants…which are a tropical and cacti, and one grass-like plant. How can I start this and have it not smell bad? I do not mind a green smell, but not rotting or sewage-like. Thank you.
This web page shows a composting machine and a video of the machine in action. http://www.naturemill.com/ I don’t have this machine or have one in my home but I do have one in the yard. Mostly a good compost should not have any odor to it if it is done right and taken care right. There is just some things you cannot put into a compost or it may make it smell. Some things that are greasy will make a rot smell and some things will make an ammonia smell. But these indoor home machines have to be plugged in as there is a motor in some of them to turn the compost. Some will have a heater in them. Some will have warning lights on them and tell you what you need to add or do not add like if it needs more water or less.
It is a great idea that you are doing and all the power to you for doing it.
