A while back I caught the gardening bug from a friend. More specifically, a veggie gardening strain.
I dug all the gardens over, added various foul smelling organic substances and planted the seeds as per the instructions on the box. For the most part success, slow but successful, mostly herbs but some onions, carrots etc.
In August, I decided to try planting potatoes. 'Use the no dig method, it's brilliant!' my infectious friend said.
I carefully followed her instructions and soon had a nice big cage full of green stuff. 'There must be lots of potatoes under that' I thought and asked for advice on when to start digging .
'Once the green tops start to wither, you can start to harvest' she said.
Well I went out and started to dig, and dig, and dig some more and ended up with the crop as shown. Not a great return for months of waiting .
I'd value my bountiful harvest at about $60 per kilo, given the cost of hay, fertilizers, seed potatoes, etc.
I'm told it may have been the Sydney weather and the humidity so I'm moving to Tasmania to try again
[Sorry there's no astronomy content here. I'll post another thread on my failings in that hobby soon]
That's a funny story. Much like what my hubby went thru with his crop of carrots after waiting and tending months. Bet dollar signs & visions of hard labour went through your head upon every slow, cherished, bite. Something tells me I should be changing the emoticons to sad ones, and retract funny, but you have to laugh don't you.
If your astronomy story is as entertaining as this, I'm eager to hear it.
That's a funny story. Much like what my hubby went thru with his crop of carrots after waiting and tending months. Bet dollar signs & visions of hard labour went through your head upon every slow, cherished, bite. Something tells me I should be changing the emoticons to sad ones, and retract funny, but you have to laugh don't you.
If your astronomy story is as entertaining as this, I'm eager to hear it.
Suzy that's why it is best coming in a pack from Woolies hey
"I heeeer you girlfriend!!!!! (Sorry. Oprah fever)
That's priceless.
Potatos like deep, acid soil. Plant 'em deep and you'll never have to tend them at all.
"I heeeer you girlfriend!!!!! (Sorry. Oprah fever)
That's priceless.
Potatos like deep, acid soil. Plant 'em deep and you'll never have to tend them at all.
You'd better be right, sunshine, or I'm coming after you!
That's just what I did when I planted them about 5 wks ago. My missus was in my ear "don't plant them that deep!". So, to placate the Dragon, err... I mean THE BEST THING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED TO ME, I did a second row half as deep.
Funny thing is they have BOTH sprouted!!!
Geoff, the vegie patch is going just great. Tomatos are just starting to ripen, lettuce & spinich is coming out our ears (I've got my suspicions that Popeye was on the Juice, and not just spinich was on the menu), Chillies are flowering and ears of corn are growing. We're about to harvest our latest batch of beans (planted them with the corn, an old Mayan tip). We've also just cleaned out the broad beans (from the older patch), 4kg worth of beans (shelled!). The tomatoes planted in the older patch are feral! You harvest a mass of them, the next morning there's just as many again! We've done better so far this season than all of last! Our vegie growing neighbours are saying the same.
For astronomy being cheaper than gardening, I'd have to agree, . Sign up to gardening, and a world of pain, time-poor, frustration pestilance, opens up to you. HEY, that sounds just like astro...
When it comes to spuds don't forget to keep building up the soil around them so only the top third of the plant is showing. That way you will increase the amount of spuds that grow.
You should only have to do it once or twice early on then let them die back and harvest.
When it comes to spuds don't forget to keep building up the soil around them so only the top third of the plant is showing. That way you will increase the amount of spuds that grow.
You should only have to do it once or twice early on then let them die back and harvest.
Cheers
That's interesting Ric. Tell me, - do the farmers who have fields upon fields of them do this building up the soil trick, - only it strikes me it could be quite tricky in a tractor. Or have they got a way around this part of the procedure?
People I know that are quite successful vegie gardeners claim they do it for the love of it, and that it's in no way cheaper than buying them from woolies. My own efforts have only ever been minimally rewarding - small capsicums, and now I have a miniature nectarine tree. When I bought this I thought it was the tree that was 'miniature', but the nectarines are VERY few and far between too - and small
I'm not sure how the commercial farmers do their spuds. It may be that due to the volume they are growing they dont worry about the practice of "hilling"
My vege garden covers around a half acre and is basically for self suffiency and follows the principles of permaculture.
The fruit forrest as I call it covers another half acre as well and contains Orange, Mandarin, Lime, Lemon, Cherry, Fig, Plum, Apple, Pear and Olives. We are trialling some Fruit Salad trees as well.
A nice little trick my Dad passed on to me (his father taught him, etc) is to plant Basil between every tomato plant.
It keeps the bugs off the tomatoes
It works coz Bugs hate Basil.
Whenever I plant a few spuds I end up with too many and end up giving lots of them away.
Don't fuss with them. Just dig a hole, drop in a spud that is starting to grow roots, bury it and just water them.
I found it is better not to dig them all up at once.
When the plant starts to die off dig up one side of the plant and get the spuds out, then cover the dirt back in.
When you need more dig up the other side.
It is suprising how many spuds will keep growing when you don't dig them all up at once.
I heard about the basil/tomato co-planting years ago. Unfortunately I recenlty heard the claim debunked. It seems that you need about 15 basil plants per tomato to have any effect. According to the tester about the only positive of the co-planting is that you don't have to walk so far if you want to make a tomato and basil sauce.
I heard about the basil/tomato co-planting years ago. Unfortunately I recenlty heard the claim debunked. It seems that you need about 15 basil plants per tomato to have any effect. According to the tester about the only positive of the co-planting is that you don't have to walk so far if you want to make a tomato and basil sauce.
The tester must have been a twit.
1 Basil plant to 1 tomato plant works perfect.
No bugs.
Unless I must be wrong and bugs snuck up and poo'd on my tomatoes while I wasn't looking, then they all ran/flew away when ever I returned, quickly removing their bite marks and restoring the tomatoes to perfect
Strange how it has worked for eons for everyone else except the tester person
]
That's a funny story. Much like what my hubby went thru with his crop of carrots after waiting and tending months. Bet dollar signs & visions of hard labour went through your head upon every slow, cherished, bite. 
tatoes + carrots grow best in a raised bed 2 warm da earth and not drown the crop 
