I couldn’t wait to get outside to work in the garden this past week. The first thing I usually do is put on my garden clogs. It was quite a surprise when this little fellow ran out of my shoe. Eeeek!
The first few days of our Spring-like days were still too wet to dig in the garden. But they were perfect for planting in pots. Pots like my new “Smart Pots” which arrived and were ready to be filled. (I got them on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Smart+Pots&x=15&y=20)
These pots are made of a fabric which resembles a heavy felt. Kinda cool.
The instructions on the bag indicate they can be reused. I sure hope so. But in the meantime I am using them for my potatoes. I bought two kinds of potatoes.
Yukon Gold and a smaller red potato. Being the enthusiastic gardener that I am, I had those little red potatoes all planted in their new pots before I remembered it would have been a good idea to take pictures. Doh! But I did remember before I started on the Yukon Gold.
So, here are the two Yukon Gold potatoes looking at you with their little eyes. If I had wanted more plants, I could have cut these potatoes into pieces and had more potato plants. But since these were larger potatoes, I decided to leave them whole. Each eye will grow a plant.
The instructions said to begin with four inches of soil. ( I used potting soil) Then place your potatoes on top. With the red potatoes, I had four potatoes which were about half the size of the Yukon gold.
Then you add about three more inches of soil to cover the potatoes. I used this stick to make measurements at 3 and 7 inches.
I used this entire bag of potting soil in the pot to get the 7 inches of soil.
The instructions I had indicated you can “dust” your potatoes with sulphur but I didn’t. The sulphur was toxic to everything. I decided it might be toxic to me as well, so I declined. It might be necessary if you are a potato farmer in the fields. I decided to take my chances without it.
Once the potatoes green leaves appear, then you cover them again. This will make more potatoes for you. I am going to be covering them with dry leaves or straw. This will help the bags to not be quite so heavy.
This past week I received an award at work and my good friend Jacque had these waiting on my desk when I arrived at work.
Aren’t they beautiful? This picture was taken at the end of the week when I brought them home and they were still gorgeous! Thank you Jacque!!!!!
When I was at the nursery buying my potatoes, I found this wonderful little plant. (I am easily sidetracked, especially in a nursery.) It is a Heuchera, called Limelight. I am such a sucker for plants in this lime color. Heuchera’s are shade-loving, so I am going to put him in a pot so I can move him around until I find just the right spot. (I don’t have too much shade in my garden.)
Happy Gardening!!!
fromgardentotable 