Tuesday 31 March 2009

Potatoes: ooof, my back

I have finally got the early potatoes in the ground. I was planning to go and play tennis afterwards, but I didn't finish until 2.00pm by which time it was too late and my back was aching.


I decided to dig trenches, rather than just making holes and plopping them in, because I wanted to put home-made compost along the bottom.

I'm very glad I didn't try and put the maincrops in at the same time, probably would have collapsed into the trench.


Here we are then, all done. There is still room at one end for my 20 x Sarpo Mira. The potatoes are under the furrows, not the ridges because:
1) any rain should go straight down to the potatoes, rather than run off either side
2) it will be easy for me to earth them up as soon as the shoots appear, which I will need to do because:
a) it will protect them from frost and
b) it will encourage them to produce more... sideshoot thingies, which will in theory make more potatoes.

The vandals have been back and broken a bit more off my shed roof:


No other damage though thank goodness. Here is the perennial patch, which I will photograph and post again in late summer for comparison.


Finally the greenhouse space issue has been solved by the addition of two new shelving units. They are very cheap and cheerful, I have to be careful not to overload them or they will probably collapse. The wire shelves just lift off, so I plan to use the frames as cucumber and tomato supports when the time comes.

4 comments:

Rhiannon said...

Wow you have been busy. I still need to get my spuds in, the place where I plan to put them still needs to be dug I think I'm supposed to get them in the ground by good friday I believe

Soilman said...

Love the ridge/furrow idea - will make it much easier to earth up when the time comes. Must try this myself. Thanks for the tip!

Anonymous said...

Your potatoes look very smart!! Must try that this weekend...and hot bath for after with my back! cat x

Rachael said...

Thanks! Smart potatoes! Well, we do have standards to maintain don't we!