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

Making It Count

When you don't have a lot of soil - or a lot of room - you have to make every bit count.  Our vegetable garden is in the sunniest spot on our treed 2-acre lot.  That also happens to be at the top of a rocky plateau with nearby cedars.  This is why our garden is mostly composed of concrete raised beds.  The concrete beds have concrete bottoms and the drainage is above ground so the hungry cedar roots can't get in.  When you garden in raised beds, you are concentrating the nutrition you add to the garden and the soil is loose because you aren't walking on it.  Because your nutrition is concentrated, you can grow a lot more in a small space than if you were growing straight into the ground.

The original part of our vegetable garden was 2 wood-sided beds plus 2 pits that we grow asparagus in.  The wooden beds are starting to rot now and we will put concrete sides on them to create one large Three Sisters bed.  The wide side of the "vee" between the beds is walled with tires.  Unfortunately there is the top of a monster rock in the middle of the "vee" so there isn't a lot of soil depth.  It'll do, though, for the squash component of the bed.  I can grow zucchini in the tires.

The original wooden beds which become the Three Sisters bed

We have used tires elsewhere in the garden as well.  Stacked 2 high and filled with rich soil, they create a container that I will grow cherry tomatoes in.  There are also 2 half-barrels that will also be used for cherry tomatoes.

Make-do containers for cherry tomatoes

In addition to the raised beds, on the north side of the plateau lies what was supposed to be the rose bed.  It has now become the rhubarb bed!  The soil here needs lots of building for the 6 rhubarb clumps.  Each spring, I add compost to the plants and then heap on a thick layer of unshreaded maple leaves.  The maple leaves smother any weeds which have plans to take over and the leaves rot into the soil.  This will take time, but eventually the rhubarb will have the kind of soil it needs.

Almost the entire garden.

Of course flowers have a place in my garden - it's not all practical stuff!  The central bed in the garden contains perennials - peonies, delphiniums, day lilies, phlox, as well as spring bulbs - narcissi, tulips, hyacinths and self-seeded windflowers and grape hyacinths.  There was an arbutus tree in the middle, but this winter we removed it.  There will be a lot more sun for the beds to the north now.

We have also tried growing blueberries, black currants, tay berries and raspberries on the plateau but the lack of soil made it very unsuccessful.  They have now all been removed.  Off the back of the plateau we have 2 large hazelnut bushes which are producing nicely.  A couple of years ago, we added 2 more hazelnuts, the roots of which have been inoculated with Perigord truffle spores.  In a couple of years, we might be digging up truffles!

The point of all this is to demonstrate that you might not have a lot of room, but with raised beds and some creative thinking you'd be amazed at how much you can grow!

Coming back to life

After almost 2 weeks of being under the the thumb of a particularly nasty virus I feel like it's not just the garden that's coming back to life!  We've had some lovely weather lately, but I've been unable to enjoy it.  Today is the first day that I've got enough energy to go outside and actually do a little.

The tomato seedlings have nearly all sprouted and most are over-ready to be in their new pots.  Today was supposed to be a day of torrential rain and wind, but happily the weatherman was wrong.  Taking advantage of a nice break in the weather, I took the seedlings out to the potting shed to move them into their new temporary homes.  As usual, I've grown more tomato plants than my needs require but there are always friends happy to take in a stray or two.  I was able to pot up 11 Bonny Best, 4 Gold Nugget and 6 Sweet Baby Girl.  I had planned on growing Stiletz as well, but when the time came to start the seeds, the package was nowhere to be found.  Principe Borghese, always a slow sprouter, was just breaking the soil, so they were brought back into the house to get a little stronger.  I'll look for another main crop tomato next time I'm near seed racks as there's still time to get them started.

Newly transplanted tomato seedling

I'm using up the last of my Quack Farm potting mix.  I've filled 4" pots with the mix, watered well and made a hole to receive the seedling.  I plant the seedlings deep.  This serves two purposes:  firstly, it shortens the stem of the plant so it doesn't become too weedy and secondly, the buried stem sends out roots and makes a stronger base for the plant.  When transplanted to their final spot, they can again be planted deeply.  Once in their new homes, the seedlings were covered by plastic domes to keep in heat and moisture.  Tomato plants need heat to germinate but can take much cooler temperatures for growing.  There's no need to make them too cool, however!  They'll keep the domes for a couple of weeks or so until they're well-established.

Each little pot is marked with a homemade plant tag.  I cut the tags from old yogurt containers and write the names on with a grease marker.  I used to use Jiffy Markers, but they fade.  When time came to plant the seedlings, sometimes I couldn't read the names anymore!  Grease markers stay bright for several seasons.

One tray full of seedlings ready for the plastic dome

Transplanting done, there was time to take advantage of sunshine forcing its way through the clouds and take a tour of the property.  And by the time I'd done that, I was pooped.  No more work today!

King Edward flowering currant almost ready for the hummingbirds

Dwarf narcissus beaded with recent rain

Rhubarb thrusting up through their leaf mulch

Three Sisters Bed patiently waiting for the next step

Planning for Next Year

This is the time of year when gardeners take stock.  What worked?  What didn’t?  What will next year’s experiment be?  What will I try to do better?

Successes

Fordhook chard is always a winner.  It grows vigorously, is slow to bolt and the stems are just as delicious as the leaves.  This year I planted a fall crop and I’ll definitely do that again.

Young Fordhook Swiss Chard Plant

Stiletz tomatoes.  I didn’t grow enough!  Okay, I had 4 plants, but I needed more.  This tomato is early, big, juicy and doesn’t have a lot of seeds.  The plants are determinate, which means that they don’t need as much staking as the vine tomatoes.  Next year I need to start about a dozen plants for my own needs and to give away to friends.

Lacinato kale.  This heritage kale is tall, but due to its growth habit, doesn’t take up as much room as some other varieties.  And it’s pretty, too – the leaves look like ostrich plumes!  Not really a winter kale, I'll have to grow another variety as well.

Snow pea fence.  I might be able to count this as a success.  The peas haven’t reached full height yet, but so far my zig zag fence is working.  I took a length of wire fencing and folded it back and forth in 3’ sections, then stretched it out a bit and anchored in place with bamboo poles.  It’s stable, providing sufficient support and the bamboo poles threaded through the wire seem to be holding it in place.  When the peas are finished, I’ll burn the dried plants off with a blow torch, fold it up and tuck it away for the winter.

Zig Zag Snow Pea Fence - not the best photo!

Failures

Sasha’s Altai tomatoes.  What a disappointment this one was.  The first tomatoes were small, which is okay if all you plan on using the tomatoes for is salads, but since I need tomatoes for salsa, I need bigger ones.  Its indeterminate growth habit means that it needs stouter staking.  The extra work is just not worth the result.

Rhubarb chard.  Pretty, but not reliable enough.  This chard bolted almost immediately!  I guess my raised beds are just too warm for most chards.

Next Year’s Experiment

Must grow shiso – or perilla.  It’s a member of the mint family.  I bought a bunch at Jollity Farm’s market garden.   Samples of shiso cordial were given out as well as the recipe for making it.  When I got home, I made the cordial, which is wonderful mixed with tonic water or club soda – also gin or vodka!  I plan on buying more shiso, but I’d like to grow it for myself as well.  Now if only I could find some seeds….

Next Year’s Resolutions

Rhubarb.  I have such a problem with this.  We don’t have enough soil to grow it properly.  Last year I cleaned out the “rose bed” which never really got off the ground and planted the rhubarb in there.  I bedded it down thickly with maple leaves and put in drip watering to supply the moisture.  It didn’t work.  Possibly there isn’t enough organic matter in the soil there to hold the moisture as the soil’s pretty sandy.  I’ll keep topping it up with maple leaves and eventually maybe I’ll win.  There’s nowhere else to go.

Onions.  A lot of the Copra and Candy onions went to seed this year.  Much of it was due to the cool wet spring we had, but some of the problem was the shade that the onion bed had.  There was lots of sunshine on the onions, but a small arbutus tree provided a spot of shade at one point in the afternoon.  That tree is coming down this winter, but I’m also going to grow onions in the bed that housed the basil next year.  No shade there!  And grow more!  Copra stores extremely well and you never have too many onions.

Principe Borghese tomatoes.  I only grew 2 plants this year and I needed a lot more.  This little cherry tomato is a mini-plum.  It’s pretty bland when eaten fresh, but once dehydrated it has flavour in spades.  It’s the only tomato I dry.  Next year I need at least 4 plants so I have plenty for my own needs and enough to give away.