Do you have good production with sweets? I'm all up in that. I've never grown sweet potato.Not really a potato but sweet potatoes I found easier to grow in my garden, which is basically a hole in clay filled with topsoil.
Do you have good production with sweets? I'm all up in that. I've never grown sweet potato.Not really a potato but sweet potatoes I found easier to grow in my garden, which is basically a hole in clay filled with topsoil.
Do you have good production with sweets? I'm all up in that. I've never grown sweet potato.
Not really a potato but sweet potatoes I found easier to grow in my garden, which is basically a hole in clay filled with topsoil.
I love beets, the problem is the deer do too. They cleaned off the tops yesterday. I just installed a new fence energizer, we'll see how it works.We have grown sweet potatoes and the yield is usually higher than our regular potatoes for the same space.
If you want to try something really fun try sugar beets.They mature in 90 days.Then you shred them and boil.Drain the water into a new pan,slow simmer until you have a thick syrup.Place the syrup in a food grade bucket.The syrup itself will work as sugar would(ie if a you need a cup of sugar you need a cup of syrup).If you wait at this point it will slowly crystallize in the bucket(over months)and you can brake and crush the crystals into normal white table sugar.Link to some heirloom sugar beets...
Sugar Beet Seeds - Sustainable Seed Co.
This is the form of most commercial sugar sold,though they apply a chemical processes(sulfur dioxide) to speed the crystallization.If you have a sweet tooth or need sugar to make preserves you can not beat the sugar beet for shtf.
Great info! thanks.We have grown sweet potatoes and the yield is usually higher than our regular potatoes for the same space.
If you want to try something really fun try sugar beets.They mature in 90 days.Then you shred them and boil.Drain the water into a new pan,slow simmer until you have a thick syrup.Place the syrup in a food grade bucket.The syrup itself will work as sugar would(ie if a you need a cup of sugar you need a cup of syrup).If you wait at this point it will slowly crystallize in the bucket(over months)and you can brake and crush the crystals into normal white table sugar.Link to some heirloom sugar beets...
Sugar Beet Seeds - Sustainable Seed Co.
This is the form of most commercial sugar sold,though they apply a chemical processes(sulfur dioxide) to speed the crystallization.If you have a sweet tooth or need sugar to make preserves you can not beat the sugar beet for shtf.
I have a sweet potato bed nearly ready with black plastic under grass mulch killing the sod. I had a sweet potato sprout in the kitchen that has went pretty crazy. The plan is to remove the mulch, till and replace the black plastic to mulch the slips.
I love beets, the problem is the deer do too. They cleaned off the tops yesterday. I just installed a new fence energizer, we'll see how it works.
My potatoes went in late this year. Like Teddy, I had them, but couldn't get them in. I "plant" mine under a 3 foot hay mulch.
I'm interested in learning more about growing the sweet potatoes. never done it before. I was always under the impression that IN wasn't a good place for growing sweet taters.
Do the potatoes do better in buckets than other large plants? I tried to do a bucket garden the first year I was at my new house and everything sucked pretty bad. I'm skeptical that potatoes would fare much better...
Potatoes.Why?They will grow with little help or maintenance....
Learn how to store them.A quick root cellar.5 gallon bucket.Kitty liter 2 inches deep.Piece of wire mesh or chicken wire over the litter.Clean(do not damage the skin or over clean),let air dry,place in the bucket.Seal and bury to keep cool and out of the light.Check them every other month,and remove any that are bad and replace kitty litter as needed.The summer crop will last until the next season stored this way.Keep them below the frost line when you bury them.You can not bury them to deep though you want to be above the water line if at all possible.
that had to be a bit disappointingOn a whim, I tried the trash can potatoes thing last year. I followed the instructions and they sprouted and all seemed well. Except when I went to harvest, I found exactly 3 "potatoes" that were the size of cherry tomatoes.
Wow, that would suck. Did the plants put on flowers?On a whim, I tried the trash can potatoes thing last year. I followed the instructions and they sprouted and all seemed well. Except when I went to harvest, I found exactly 3 "potatoes" that were the size of cherry tomatoes.
I honestly dont recall. I just followed the instructions and most of the plants kept growing and I kept adding soil.Wow, that would suck. Did the plants put on flowers?
Never did them in a container, but I plan on it this year.
Have always had a good crop of potatoes when we did them.
Yeah if there is to much nitrogen you can get all top growth. I would think a mix of compost and topsoil wouldn't be to much though.I honestly dont recall. I just followed the instructions and most of the plants kept growing and I kept adding soil.
I assume so since I got several. And I know it wasnt one of the cuttings because they were complete.
I wonder if there was too much nitrogen in the topsoil/compost bags I used? I know some plants wont produce fruit if nitrogen is too high. They just keep growing and growing.
I still can the vast majority of mine.Growing - Nothing like oversimplification. I grew up growing potatoes with my dad (who was raised on a farm) in our garden, in an state where potatoes are a significant crop (not Indiana - which is not a #10 potato producing state). Depending where you live, Colorado Potato Beetles are a significant problem. Since my dad liked to do things "organically" a fair bit of my time as a kid was put to use controlling them "mechanically". Since then, I've found Spinosad to be a great control.
Storage - temp AND humidity are important. Ignore humidity at one's peril. Keeping one year's harvest until the next year takes a bit of doing. I don't remember if we were entirely successful in this regard.
Nonetheless, a good crop. Just don't get idea they'll grow and store themselves with little help or maintenance (depending on one's definition of "little" I suppose). That may not be the case at all depending on your location and soil conditions. YMMV.
When did you harvest them? Harvesting to early will give you very poor results.On a whim, I tried the trash can potatoes thing last year. I followed the instructions and they sprouted and all seemed well. Except when I went to harvest, I found exactly 3 "potatoes" that were the size of cherry tomatoes.
I tried doing this in two 55 gallon drums. Planted seeds and kept up with adding dirt as they grew (started in april). Plants grew amazing and got extremely tall. Went to harvest in Aug and I say less than 3 lbs of sad excuse of smaller grape to cherry tomatoes.When did you harvest them? Harvesting to early will give you very poor results.
"Wait until the tops of the vines have died before you begin harvesting."How And When To Harvest Potatoes
Knowing how to harvest potatoes will help you get the greatest benefit from your crop. Read here for more.www.gardeningknowhow.com
The only thing left growing in the garden when I dig the potatoes out is lettuce. Everything else has been killed off by the first hard frost.