Potato Grow Bag Experiment - Part 1

First, my apologies because this post will have a LOT of pictures!

My daughter expressed an interest in growing potatoes in 5 gallon pails.  I'd heard of growing potatoes in tires, paper bags and plastic garbage bags but pails didn't sound like an answer to me so I did a little online research.  I came across a site that described making potato grow bags from landscape cloth.  And I just happen to have rolls of landscape cloth, so I decided to give it a try.  The remains of one roll gave me enough material to make 8 bags.  4 I kept and the other 4 I'll give to my daughter and daughter-in-law.  It's pretty easy!

My landscape cloth came in rolls 36" wide.  I cut 48" lengths and sliced them in half down the length yielding 2 strips 18" x 48".  Next up comes the sewing machine, but it's so simple a rank beginner can do it.  Just be sure to use polyester thread so that the stitching won't rot.

First, stitch the ends together in a half-inch seam with the shiny side of the fabric inside.  The pictures are taken from the back of the sewing machine so you can see the result and I used yellow thread on the last bag so the stitching would show in the picture.  It helps to go back over your stitching at the beginning and ends of a line so that the stitching doesn't unravel.

Next, fold the seam to one side and stitch it down.  This reinforces the seam.

Finally, on the bottom of the bag, fold the bag in half and make two 3" darts on each bottom corner, then fold the other way and make two more 3" darts - you will now have a dart at each corner.  This allows your bag to "sit".

Your finished bag will have an open square in the bottom.  Okay - bag done - time to set it up in the garden!

The spot I chose is below a small step, not in the way of any cedar roots and receives lots of sunshine.  It was on a slope, so I had to cut away the top of the slope, leaving the sod just below the cut portion to level it out.  Next I placed cardboard to keep the weeds and grass down.  I'll later cover it with some kind of mulch so it looks a little better.  Thick layers of newspaper would work just as well, but we'd just taken our newspaper pile to the recycling depot.

The bags were set in place, each anchored with a small rock to keep the breeze from blowing them away and holes cut in the cardboard to match the holes in the bottom of the bags.  I folded over the tops for now.

Each bag received 2 shovels of compost.

Finally each bag got 2 shovels of garden soil.  I moved the soil around so that the bags were steady.  The tops are still folded over so there's room for more soil.  Now I need potatoes!

To be continued!

Repotting Tomato Seedlings

Today is a mizzly (that's a word, right?) overcast day and while it's cool, it's not cold.  Perfect weather for repotting tomato seedlings.

Health Kick tomato seedlings ready to be repotted.

I seeded them 2 months ago and nearly all the seeds have come up.  They're a little on the leggy side but that's just fine.  Tomato seedlings should be replanted to just below the first seed leaves.  They'll develop roots on all the reburied stem sections, making the plant stronger in the long run.

Tools assembled

My potting shed is a bit of a mess after a winter of neglect, so the first order of the day was to tidy up the bench and assemble all the things I'd need for the job.  The repotting tray is one of a pair I picked up on sale at Lee Valley for $5 each.  The labels were cut from a milk carton and will be marked with a grease marker.  I fill recycled pots with a purchased potting mix and wet thoroughly with a 20-20-20 solution.

tomato seedling ready to put in the pot

With the invaluable plastic knife, I make a good-sized hole in the pot and slip a seedling in, firming gently in place.

Firmed in - ready for backfill

Then I carefully add more potting mixture around the seedling covering the stem to just below the seed leaves and tuck in a label.

Repotting complete

Finally, all the seedlings are repotted and the bench is tidied up.  There are still onion, leek, kale and lettuce seedlings, but they'll all be replanted outside in April.

Seedlings waiting for the sun to come out

Now we just wait for the weather to warm up.  There'll be lots of plants for me and leftovers for friends.  I hope I can remember everyone I promised plants to!

Shiitake Mushrooms

We love to try new things.

We once had an olive tree.  It wasn't a huge success as we didn't have an area with decent soil that got a lot of sunshine.  You can grow olives in the Gulf Islands as there is an olive grove on Denman Island.  Our little tree, however, didn't survive its second winter.

Then there are the Perigord truffles we're waiting for.  We have 2 hazelnut bushes which have their roots inoculated with truffle spores.  In a couple of years we can expect to start harvesting truffles and hazelnuts.  And apparently we won't need a pig or a truffle hound because ripening truffles kill off the  green growth above them.  We just look for brown patches in the fall!

This spring we're waiting for shiitake mushrooms.  We've grown them before - along with oyster mushrooms.  We had a real battle with slugs however, and our harvests weren't as large as we'd like.  Oyster mushrooms are grown on sections of logs which are half-buried in the ground.  These were just about impossible to keep the slugs off and we've given up on them.  We only got one really good harvest.  We think we may have spread spores through our forest however, because a dead alder tree sprouted a wonderful crop of what looked to us like oyster mushrooms.  We just weren't brave enough to try them!

Oyster mushrooms growing in the wild - we think!

Last spring we found another supplier of shiitake mushroom spawn in Aldergrove - Western Biologicals Ltd.  As our old logs were spent, it was time to give it another try.  It's really rather easy - except for the slug part.  You start with green, healthy logs about 4 to 5" in diameter and about 3 to 4' long.  Spring is the time to cut the logs just before the buds break.  The sap will be rising in the trees with maximum nourishment for the mushroom spawn. You drill holes in the logs about 6" apart and insert the spawn plugs, sealing the holes.  Part of our problem the first time was with the beeswax which was recommended for sealing.  It cracked and fell off.  Western Biologicals recommended we seal with latex and it's still in place.  Our logs were set in a shady place so the spawn could spread throughout the logs.  We placed them under our deck where they could also be splashed by rainwater from above.  Then it's just waiting as we wouldn't expect anything to develop for a year.

Mushroom logs racked and waiting

As the time approaches for mushrooms to start popping out, it's a good plan to "shock" the logs and so my husband soaked them in a barrel for a day and then set them back on their rack which has copper netting placed at all access points to keep the slugs off.  We're hoping to see some signs of life within a week or two.  You can expect to harvest half a pound of mushrooms from one log each year. Can't wait!

Shiitake mushrooms sprouting from our first alder logs

Planting Potatoes

I haven't grown potatoes in a number of years and never plan on growing them for storage.  We do love baby potatoes, however - steamed with parsley butter, potato salad, etc. - so this year we decided to use one of our 4x4 concrete raised beds for potatoes.

4x4 Bed Prepared

After the bed was made, the soil which went into it was plain sifted soil from a trench that brought water up to the potting shed and this half-filled the bed.  There was definitely nothing special about that soil!  Last week, I added a wheelbarrow load of Sea Soil, another of compost and about a litre of homemade fertilizer which was worked into the soil.

Chitting Potatoes

Today the weather is sunny and warm so I decided to jump the gun and get the potatoes in.  I'd purchased a small bag of Pacific Russet potatoes and set them in my sewing room to sprout.   This is called chitting.  I traded some of the potatoes with my daughter-in-law for Seiglinde potatoes she'd purchased at a Seedy Saturday and these will go in another small bed once they've sprouted.

Ready for Planting

Two of the Pacific Russet potatoes were cut to portions of at least 3 sprouts and this gave me the 9 I'd need to plant in the bed.

Planted and ready to be covered.

They were planted 6" deep.  Once they break the surface and start growing up, I'll add more soil - or compost or chopped leaves.  New potatoes form between the seed potato and the top of the soil so the more stem length you provide the more potatoes you can expect.

Potatoes planted, there was now time to look for more Spring signs.

Rhubarb thrusting through the leaf mulch

Crocuses opening their faces to the sun

Snowstorm Casualties

Spring is waking up the world in the Pacific Northwest.  Snowdrops and aconites have been blooming for weeks now and crocuses are joining in the mix.  Narcissus buds will soon be opening and at this time of the year we always look forward to the sight of 2 ancient yellow plum trees in the orchard vivid with white blossoms.  But this will likely be the last year for that.

We live in a bare-land strata of 13 owners with privately-held land and 22 acres of common property.  Part of that common land is a very old orchard.  The original settlers on this property were a family of 4.  The 1911 Census lists father, mother and 2 sons.  The father gave "farmer" as his occupation.  The orchard must date back to that time making the trees at least 100 years old.

Yesterday when walking to the beach with our grandson, we discovered that the recent snowstorm had brought down both yellow plums.

One tree is completely down.

The second tree is resting on one branch.

Snow in this part of the world tends to be heavy and wet.  It's easy to see how the dense canopy would hold a lot of snow.  The aging structures would be no match for the weight.

Intertwined branches make a dense canopy

The trees are still alive and one might survive but would be badly weakened.  The other will have to be removed.  Every Spring for the 20+ years we've been living here we have marvelled at their beauty and I've tried many times without success to capture the vision with my camera.  We will sorely miss these ancient trees.