I planted the spuds it feels like months ago ( in reality, 2/16), and now, after what seems like a very long time, I have sprouts! I had thought that the seed potatoes I planted in the ground would do substantially better then the spuds I planted in the bins.
I thought that nicer soil, more space and the presences of earth worms and general being in the Earth would give them an advantage. The bins are doing better than the ones I planted in the earth. I credit this to the bins being above ground and in substantially warmer store bought potting soil. It started out warmer, was no subjected to freezing ground and the location of the bins gets better light in the late winter. The garden area gets nice light but not as much I am learning. It does however get better light in the early spring and summer, so I am hoping this will bode well for the corn, if not my potatoes.
The bins hold early red potatoes. They are noticeably ahead of their Yukon gold cousins in the ground. Please not the two yellow "circles" around the other sprouts. I am crossing my fingers that as it gets warmer more of the seed spuds will sprout. I went back and checked and on the day I planted them looks like I planted them there was snow on the ground , and while it didn't snow again, it was bitter cold and nasty and I don't think that can help with sprouting. These were all supposed to be harvest around May 8, but I don't see that as being attainable at this point, I'm looking now at the last week of May possibly first week of June.
In the top picture there are three sprouts, the bottom shot is of one along the other side of the garden, where it gets less sun. None of these were visible even last weekend. I thought the cold might have killed them and I gote a little sad about 1) not having potatoes and 2) wasting the time and energy it took to get the ground ready and then planting them; but I remembered that potatoes are hardy and they reward hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment