How to Drown Your Potatoes in One Easy Step

I have been busy gardening even if I haven’t been busy blogging about it! I’ve gotten my straw bales planted with five peppers, three tomatoes, one cucumber, one watermelon and some nasturtiums for added interest. To plant the peppers and tomatoes, I dug a hole in the straw twice as wide and twice as deep as the containers they came in. Well, ‘dug’ is a misnomer. I used a trowel to loosen the straw and then pulled it out by handfuls until I had a hole the size I wanted. It was slow, tedious work. Then I filled the holes with a 50-50 mix of topsoil and composted cow manure, sprinkled with a bit of soil inoculant. I used the straw I ‘dug’ out of the bales as mulch on my lasagna beds, so that was a bonus. I did notice that the bales are already showing signs of breaking down – I’m hoping they’ll last this season and almost certain they won’t last for a second. In all truth, it seems like doing things the hard way – sticking the plants in the ground would have been easier. But I didn’t have a suitable piece of ground to use, so the straw bales are serving a purpose. Once the bales were planted, I topped them with a soaker hose strung through some tile bricks I had lying around. The hose goes under the stairs, where the shade preferring potatoes and horseradish are planted, then winds its way through the lasagna beds – good system if I do say so myself. I may go with a timer for the hose eventually, but for now I can turn it on manually, walk way, and come back with the plants have had enough. Only I have to remember to come back, which I didn’t last time – hours later, I heard the water running and figured out why . . . .

On other fronts, I finished planting my third lasagna bed – ginger (which I ordered from Gurney’s – paid quite a bit for a tiny sliver – won’t do that again), a banana tree which came from a plant I just divided, and peanuts. I also planted my potato barrel. Hmmm.

Okay, the potato barrel. The idea is super: plant potatoes in a barrel and as they grow, add more soil --which increases the yield. When the season is over, dump out the barrel and pick up the liberated spuds – no digging, no potential for damaging the tater skins. Sounded great, so I bought a very suitable container at Wal-mart, had my husband drill the bottom with as many holes as possible, then mixed equal parts of peat moss, soil and compost as a planting medium. The potatoes (purchased from Burpee’s for more than I should have paid) had been languishing in their plastic baggie for way too long. When I bought them, I didn’t realize three things – one is that they are a cool weather plant, two, that the planting season in Florida ends in March, and three, that I wouldn’t find time to plant them for a while. One of the potatoes had already started to rot and the others were sprouting, but, hey, this is an experimental garden, right? It’s not so much about growing potatoes as it is about learning from my experience, mistakes and all. So the potatoes got planted and then I watered. Guess what? The water didn’t drain . . . well, it did, but very, very slowly. I’ve let the potato barrel dry somewhat and I’m going to dump it out and start over. I may kill my little sprouts in the process, but I’m almost certain that if I leave as is they will drown in our next big rainfall. When I redo, I’m going to crush some tin cans and put them in the bottom to improve drainage (oops, meant to do that the first time and forgot), then I’m going to mix some of our sand into the planting mix. Our sand is quite alkaline and potatoes like acid soil, so I’ll throw in some ironite to balance the PH. Then we’ll see how they do.

In the meantime, I’ve been reading, reading, reading. I’ve ordered a slew of books and getting ready to order more. As I have time, I’ll try to provide some book reviews. LOTS of fantabulous information out there! So much to learn, so little time!!

Online Education

I love, love, love the internet! I learn 100 new things every time I log on, and that’s in just the first ten minutes! Okay, slight exaggeration, but I do learn tons . . . better and cheaper than a college education!

One of the things I learned about is straw bale gardening. Straw bale gardening is not suitable for root crops, but for just about anything else – including tomatoes and peppers, which are what I’m planting in mine this year. You start with wheat straw bales tied with synthetic twine, if you can find them. Place the bales with the ties horizontal to the ground in whatever spot you plan to use them (can even be on a balcony, driveway, or other hard surface), and keep them watered for 7-10 days to prime them for planting. During the saturation stage, the wheat supposedly heats up and then cools off. Once they are cool, they are ready to plant. Rough up the top three inches of straw and work in compost, soil -- whatever you plan to plant in. Then plant and water as usual.

I’m using this method for several reasons – one is that I can plant under an existing pergola, giving my tomatoes and peppers dappled sun. I’ve found that full sun can be too intense in this area. The second reason is that tomatoes should not be planted in the same place each year – otherwise diseases build up in the soil. If you have a small garden, as I do, it’s not easy to find new places to put the tomatoes. And lastly, I just want to try it and see how it works. Last year, I tried planting my one tomato upside-down in one of those baggie things, and that was a disaster. Our strong winds whipped the plant around and broke off major branches. Then the winds turned really salty as Gustav and Ike passed through the Gulf. What was left of the tomato plant turned brown and crispy. This year’s crop will be in a more protected spot, and I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

So the first step is to find straw bales. I was looking in garden centers. Not the place to look. At least around here, you have to look in feed stores or saddleries. I figured I needed four bales and hoped they would fit in the back of my Toyota Highlander. They did, but just barely. I had put a blanket down to protect the interior of the car, but I still had a lot of cleaning to do after I pulled the bales out. The little things they never tell you! I put my bales in place and it has been raining ever since. We have a couple of clear days in the forecast and then more rain, so keeping them wet could not be easier! In the meantime, my tomatoes and peppers have arrived and I have them acclimating on the screened porch.

With all the rain, I’ve been spending more time on the internet learning more wonderful things. Yesterday, I learned about chia seeds. It seems that chia seeds have more omega three’s than flax seeds, don’t have to be ground the way flax does, and are easier to store. Plus they are packed with protein, calcium, anti-oxidants and other wonderful stuff. They supposedly have a pleasant, nutty flavor and can be added to almost anything. If put in water, they turn into gel – which makes me wonder if they could be used to for a Jell-O substitute or added to stewed fruit to make jelly. They can be sprouted and eaten that way, or grown and harvested as young greens (remember chia pets?) I’m not sure how easy they are to grow to maturity – but why not try and find out? I found several sources for the seeds on the internet, but shipping and handling was mucho expensivo, so I’m going to look in our local health food store first.

More tidbits from yesterday’s surfing: Rocket and collard flowers are supposedly delicious! If you live in a warm area like mine, the season for greens like arugula (also known as rocket), lettuce, spinach, cilantro and other cool weather greens is decidedly short. Everything wants to bolt – wherein the leaves turn tough and bitter and flower stalks shoot toward the sky. Of course, the plant doesn’t know it’s supposed to stay a tender, young baby, it just wants to get on with reproduction. But now I know I can eat the flowers if not the leaves, at least of the rocket plants. And cilantro, once it goes to seed, is known as coriander – another second use for a versatile plant. But I am also going to try growing cilantro and arugula indoors this summer, another experiment. Will they last longer in an air-conditioned house? (We keep our thermostat at 80 so it’s not exactly cool . . . but cooler than out-of-doors).

And lastly, I ran across an amazing video yesterday -- A Farm for the Future. This is a long one, fifty-some minutes, but well worth the time it takes to watch. Rather sobbering, really.

Well, another rainy day on my little island. Wonder what I'll learn today?