Tag Archives: gardening tips

Home Grown Potatoes

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Growing your own potatoes is an easy and rewarding gardening experience.growing potatoes
Plant starts in early spring, as soon as the soil can be worked.
Potato plants can withstand a light frost, but protect against a hard frost.
Potato plants need at least 6 hours of sunlight a day to produce.
Harvest potatoes in 2-4 months; this depends on your area’s growing season.
Purchase good quality seed potatoes to insure a healthy crop.

Oregon Territorial Seed company in Cottage Grove, Oregon offers some interesting  seed potato varieties:  http://www.territorialseed.com/

  • Dark Red Norland Potatoes
  • Blue Potatoes (Late-season 110-135 days)
  • Yukon Gem Potatoes
  • Desiree Potatoes
  • German Butterball Potatoes
  • Mountain Rose Potatoes
  • Purple Majesty Potatoes

The Rogue Valley Grange Co-ops may have some of these varieties available, too.

Seed Prep:  Seed potatoes are tubers which can be planted whole, but you will get more plants if you cut seed potatoes into sections. Each cut section should contain one or two sprouts; these sprouts are called  eyes.  Each section should have enough potato “meat” around each eye for successful growing.  Therefore,  cut seed potatoes into 2 to 3 inch chunks, with 1-2 eyes in each chunk.  Set these pieces on a protective surface like newspaper to allow cut edges to dry before planting,  usually 24-48 hours.

Planting:
In the ground – Dig a trench 8 inches deep. Plant each seed potato section, 1 inch deep and 12 inches apart. Planting rows should be spaced 3 feet apart.  Place the seed potato cut side down with eye(s) pointing up.  As the plants grow, and when leaves are just starting to break the soil’s surface,  mound another 2 inches of soil on top of the plants.  Repeat this step until the trench is filled with soil,  continue filling until the trench is mounded .    Note:  If your space is limited,  or  if you want only baby potatoes,  you can decrease the spacing between the plants to 7 inches.

Planting in Containers – Note: Containers must be able to drain.
Growing in containers is the same principal as growing in the ground.  Place  6 inches of moistened soil in the bottom of a container.  Plant prepped seed potatoes cut side down with eyes up.  Cover with 2-3 inches of soil. As the potato plants grow keep adding 2-3 inches of soil over the plants.   Repeat this step until the container is full of soil.  You can even stack additional containers on top of the original container, filling those with soil in steps.  The height limit is approximately 3 feet.

Planting in Straw–
With this method you don’t have to dig potatoes, you simply pull them out of the straw. Because straw starts to break down as the growing season progresses,  you will need to add straw to maintain a consistent straw depth. In short: Top off your potato bed with straw during the growing season.

Prep potatoes as described above.  Lay out a loose layer of straw 6-inches deep, and place seed potatoes in the straw, cut side down, eyes up.  Cover with 2 inches of straw. When you see the leaves peaking out of the straw, cover them with 2 inches of straw. Then, repeat this until you reached your desired height.

Care:

  • Potatoes should be watered regularly, but do not over water.
  • Keeping tubers covered prevents greening. Potatoes exposed to sunlight turn green, causing the flesh to taste bitter.
  • Feed potato plants regularly throughout the season with a liquid fertilizer.

Harvesting:

  • New potatoes can be picked when foliage is 1-foot high.
  • All potatoes are harvested after plant foliage dies.

Sun, Shade, Partial Sun, Partial Shade – What does it mean?

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Often these terms are confusing even for a seasoned gardener, so below are some 20170502_182451guidelines to shed light on the subject, and help you plant with confidence.

Full Sun: 6 hours of direct sunlight anytime during the day. It could even be 3 hour in the morning, then 3 more in the afternoon, but 6 hours total is the minimum.

Partial Sun: 3-6 hours of direct sunlight, but provide some relief from hot afternoon sunshine.

Shade: Less than 6 hours of sunlight, is considered a shady area.

Partial Shade: 3-4 hours of morning or early afternoon sunlight, then shaded or getting indirect light in the late afternoon.

Dappled Sun: Similar to partial shade, some sunlight makes it through the branches of deciduous trees.

 

Full Shade: Lessen than 3 hours of sunlight. Morning sunshine is the best, then receiving some dappled sun or filtered light during the day.

Shade Tolerant: Plant prefers more sunlight, but can be planted in partial shade. Possibly deceiving statement, because plant performance could be substandard if planted in partial shade.

 

Note:  Some plants listed for shade gardens in USDA Zones 7-8 may perform better in full sun in Zones 4-5.

Submitted by: Carlotta Lucas

 

 

 

The Beauty of Leaf Mold

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Instead of carting off your tree leaves to the landfill, or recycling them in a yard debris bin, why not improve your soil by making leaf mold?  Leaf mold is made from decayed tree leaves;  it’s easy to make, it’s free and it improves your soil!leaf mold bin

How Leaf mold helps:

  1. Adds trace minerals to the soil
  2. Reduces rainwater runoff, and evaporation
  3. Retains moisture. Leaf mold hold 50% of it’s own weight in water
  4. Loosens compacted soils
  5. Cools roots and foliage during hot weather
  6. Improves habitat for soil dwellers, such as earthworms & beneficial bacteria
  7. As mulch it helps control weeds
  8. Saves you money by using less fertilizer and less water

Methods:

Build a 3-4 foot tall wire-fence enclosure, fill it up with leaves, add water, cover with cardboard, mix occasionally if you want to, but it’s not necessary and in two years the leaves break down into a rich brown weed-free mulch.

To speed up the process:  Place your wire bin in a semi-shaded area, shred your leaves, add some nitrogen like grass clippings, coffee grounds, or a 1/2 cup of high nitrogen fertilizer, like urea, then cover leaves with a piece of cardboard.
Note: If you don’t own a leaf shredder, then make a pile of leaves and run over them with your lawnmower several times. You should have leaf mold in 9-12 months.

You can also make leaf mold using large plastic bags. Fill large bags half full with leaves, add two cups of coffee grounds, or a ¼ cup urea fertilizer.  Wet leaves thoroughly.  Tie the top,  poke holes in the sides for lots of air flow.  Stack bags in warm location, shake occasionally to mix. You could have leaf mold as soon as 2 months.

After leaves have decomposed, incorporate your leaf mold directly into the garden soil, and/or mulch around your plants. You can also mix it with potting soil to use in container gardens.

Note: Do not use these Walnut, Eucalyptus, or Camphor Laurel leaves for leaf mold. They contain growth-inhibitors, and are toxic to other plants.

Oak leaves take longer to break down, so it’s best to shred them.

Composting guide:  http://compostguide.com/using-leaves-for-composting/

Step-by-Step Guide to Making Leaf Mold : http://making-mulch-from-leaves

Article by : Carlotta Lucas

November 11th: Garden Chores

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  • Garlic:  Weather permitting, you still have a week, or two, to plant garlic.
  • Mulch around berry plants.
  • Drain watering systems.
  • Disconnect hoses from hose bibs to prevent hose bib ends from freezing.
  • Insulate outside faucets, if they are not frost-proof hose bibs.
  • Drain and store portable sprinklers, hose-end timers and hose-end sprayers.
  • Rake and destroy fruit tree leaves and fallen fruit to prevent the spread of disease.
  • Spray dormant oil on fruit tress to control overwintering insects and fungus.
  • Spray lime-sulfur of grapes, anytime from now to February.
  •  It’s a good time to plant new trees, fruit trees and blueberries.
  • Prune raspberries to 1 foot above wire, attach canes to wires.
  • Harvest fall crops.
  • Clean tools.

Gardening Tips: Soil Conservation

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Life in the Leaf Litter: Don’t Throw a Good Thing Away

by | Aug 30, 2017 | Soil Conservation

Life in the Leaf Litter: Don’t Throw a Good Thing Away

This is the time of year when those giant paper bags full of fallen leaves start appearing on sidewalks around the country. This is also the time of year I drive around my neighborhood picking up those bags of leaves in my truck and spreading them throughout my garden beds.

The practice of removing our yard waste to landfills is enormously unsustainable:

  • We spend endless hours raking, blowing, and bagging the leaves that fall every year.
  • The use of leaf blowers is a source of noise pollution and air pollution, and uses large amounts of non-renewable fossil fuel.
  • These huge piles are hauled away by truck, using more gasoline and causing more air pollution.
  • Often this organic yard material is dumped into landfills, which destroys wildlife habitat.
  • Then we have mulch trucked in to replace the benefits of the leaves we just hauled away.
  • And we replace the nutrients that were freely available from the decomposition of those leaves with synthetic fertilizers, which are another petroleum product.

This cycle cannot be sustained without causing increasing damage to our environment. It is much more sustainable to manage this yard waste on our own properties.

Fortunately, this is very easy to do and also returns nutrients to the soil, provides habitat for many organisms, and ensures healthy plants.

I pile up these leaves in every one of my flower beds, sometimes it is more than two feet deep. In the spring I take a hand rake and loosen the leaves around my emerging plants, which hide the leaves during the growing season. By the time the next leaves fall, the old leaves have completely decomposed and the soil is ready for a new blanket.

Why do I do this?

  • There is a cycle of life contained in the leaf litter and we destroy many forms of wildlife every time we remove these leaves.
  • Many butterflies find shelter in the leaf litter, either in egg, pupal, or adult form, to safely wait out the winter and emerge in the spring.
  • Leaf litter provides food and shelter to an amazing variety of invertebrates who break down the leaves, which feeds the soil and other wildlife.
  • Healthy plants are dependent on healthy soil.
  • The deeper the leaf litter, the more spiders are supported. Spiders are an essential element in keeping pest insects in balance.
  • Leaf litter is also home to ladybugs, salamanders, toads, and other predators of pest insects. It is no wonder that pests like aphids thrive when we continue to destroy the habitat of the predators that would keep them under control.
  • Every spring these leaves are covered with birds who pick through the leaves in search of a tasty meal.
  • Trucked in mulch is not necessary when the leaves are left to cover the soil because the leaf litter acts as a natural blanket of mulch, controlling soil moisture and temperature.

I know there are many gardeners who cannot bear the thought of even one leaf creating a “mess” in their pristine garden beds. But it’s easy to tuck the leaves under your shrubs or in a back corner where they can work their magic and leave your sense of tidyness intact.

Or the leaves can be composted and then spread over your soil so at least the natural nutrients can be returned to the soil.

The benefits to your local wildlife far outweigh any need for neatness.