Alexis Richard

Jen Fan wrote:

Alexis Richard wrote:

Ooh I'm eager to see how this works too! I've always cut eyes, but I cut mine too  small.

My first potato patch was cut up pieces; I try to keep pieces 1-2" with 2-3 eyes.  I have no real rationalization behind that choice  I worried that I cut some too small but virtually all of them came up.  My partner said he's had potatoes grow from PEELINGS in the compost heap!  I haven't seen that one myself, but it made me rethink what 'too small' might be for a tater.  

Well mine all sprouted and formed at least one tater.... But not much more than that lol. Maybe it was my dirt then!

Jen Fan wrote:I really appreciate all the input  Thanks everyone!

I had never thought about D/InD on Potatoes!    How funny!  That does explain a lot though :p  How can you tell which varieties are which; just observe their growth/production patterns?

I will share our results this year from my novice potato experiments I have going.  The plants in our first potato bed seem like they should be setting flowers soon.  This bed is a mix of all-blues and purples, bakers, russets, red, and golds.  After what I've just read about some of these varieties, with the fact that half the patch is mounded/buried in straw and the other half is buried in straw/soil much deeper, I'm curious to see what happens.  They were all set atop loosened soil or lightly buried, then covered in a few inches of hay.  I started mounding them in more hay as they reached 4-6 inches and they're now under an 8-12'+ thick mat of hay.  It's a lot of work burying them and not smothering the other plants in the process!  I'd love to not do it anymore!  lol!

We just took any growing spuds from the organic potatoes we get at the store and used those.  That's how I've always grown potatoes but I've never had a thrilling harvest.  Usually 3-6 spuds per plant, and usually the blues and purples are what I plant.  I would love to never have to buy another potato (or anything else) from the store again!  But I'm not there yet, so here we are.

I went into this year with the mentality of "get everything I possibly can into the ground so I have more food at harvest cause buying food is BS and I need to get this train moving".  I did some reading on the site here the other day before posting this thread and decided to try another experiment;
With the last of the enthusiastically sprouting spuds from the pantry I planted another potato patch.  I used my recently 'retired'/rotated rabbit pen and put the tubers down in the low areas, trenches, and dug-outs the rabbits made, 6-10" deep, and mounded about a foot of hay on top of them to cover the pits to soil-level.  I watered everyone and will probably not touch them again for a long time.  I doubt that area is going to go bone dry.  I planted the spuds whole; another technique I read people using on here.  Curious to see how it differs from cutting eyes.

Ooh I'm eager to see how this works too! I've always cut eyes, but I cut mine too  small.

This is a terrific thread! Lots of great info for when I get my goats. :)
And good to know I wasn't wrong! I was worried maybe I'd given wrong info. Since I only know from research not experience.

Youch. Sounds like this ewe has some serious problems. Kudos to you for taking the extra time. Also it sound like you know way more than me about this so ignore me lol.

I've read about hot compresses helping to loosen it up enough to come out. Look up stripping a cow with mastitis. It's nasty and effectively milking pus out. If it isn't emptied you'll need to do the antibiotics.

What happens is the teat gets blocked or under milked, and bacteria grow in the old milk left in the udder, causing an infection. It's the same thing as when human women get mastitis when trying to wean their kids. (Sorry for the frankness but it's true!)

Y'all. Some of these stories have me in tears. Anyone else feeling that bittersweet feeling that comes with remembering your childhood?

Wow I'm so amazed that tomatoes are the beginning for so many people!

My mini hugulkultur rows are having widely varied results.... The areas with more small sticks under the dirt are doing better. But the areas with larger chunks seem very under-grown. :(
Ah oh well. You can't find out what's wrong until you fail, right?

I think that to a lot of people, gardening is intimidating. It's hard to start, and some people (cough-me-cough) just find it hard to start because they want everything to be PERFECT.
I made a post on my blog about reasons to start gardening. Not the sort of philosophical reasons you see a lot of places. But concrete reasons. And I got to wondering.

Are any of you guys the type to over-plan? What are some of the reasons you started your gardens?

My biggest one is financial honestly. I'm cheap and want high quality goods dangit!

https://www.alexisrichard.com/reasons-to-start-a-garden/'

I mean... I'll take all the babies you care to pot or wrap!