Back on March 7th I planted four seed potatoes in a potato box with a seed germination warming mat under the box. I wasn't entirely sure I'd be able to pull the mat back out from under the box....
...no problem!
And then there was the issue of trying to keep the rain from turning the soil in the box into mud soup...
Here's the covered box...and here's how I did it...
.
..a piece of bent wire fencing, some plastic sheeting and a few spring clamps.
And then there was the question of whether it would be worth the effort...would my potatoes sprout sooner? Last year I planted my potatoes on March 17...and on April 21 I announced that "My Potatoes Are Up!" This year I planted my experimental potato box on March 7th...and on March 21...
Tah Dah!! Potato sprouts!! All four potatoes have sprouted!
That's more than two weeks cut off the time it took for them to sprout last year! I will be using a germination mat under the rest of my boxes...and I ordered a soil heating cable for my maincrop potato bed...yes, another experiment...(did I mention that my degree...and 30 years of work experience...was in laboratory science?) It's all about experiments... :)
Enjoy!
It's such fun to experiment with things in the garden. It looks like your experiment was a success. I can't believe that you managed to pull that heat mat out so easily.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great experiment - made even better by good results! I had a feeling that would work well.
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