Monday, March 7, 2011

Pushing the Seasons...Again...

The last two years I have planted my potatoes on St. Patrick's Day, March 17.  I will plant my main crop on that day again this year (I like to keep the potato sprites happy), but I decided to try a little experiment with one of my potato boxes...


First I put down a layer of chicken wire to discourage burrowing critters....

 

And then I laid down a big seedling germination  mat...yes, I know...another gadget...
what can I say?...I'm married to an engineer..."Gadgets 'R Us"....


And next a layer of weed cloth....my hope is that after the potato plants emerge I'll be able to
pull the warming mat out from under the box so I can use it for other purposes...


The next step was to add about two inches of a light soil mix (lots of peat moss and vermiculite and
quite a bit of compost) and then I placed four small seed potatoes into the box...


I covered the potatoes with another two inches of soil mix, gave them a light watering...


...and then tucked them in for the night...


FitzGyver is going to make me a couple of portable mini-hoop houses that I will be able to use for projects like this...I will post a photo as soon as one is completed.  This is ten days earlier than I have planted my potatoes before...and in a colder than normal year...so this is definitely an experiment!  I'll keep you posted with the results....

Enjoy!

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4 comments:

  1. RobinMarch 8, 2011 at 3:33 AM

    That's a pretty interesting idea. You will have to keep us posted on how this method works out for you.

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  2. kitsapFGMarch 8, 2011 at 6:01 AM

    I think that is a great idea for getting the spuds off to a fast start in the colder soils of early spring. I hope the heat mat slides out easily once the real chill is off. Keep us updated on this experiement please!

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  3. SinfonianMarch 13, 2011 at 3:14 PM

    Great work on the potato bin. Looks great! Higher than I go, but if you've got the season for it, great!

    A heat mat to get them cooking, interesting. I've let the seed sprout indoors before but haven't tried it outside. Creative! GL!

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  4. DebMarch 14, 2011 at 2:21 PM

    So far, so good on this...the soil temperature in the box is about 60 degrees, which should be perfect for potatoes...

    Rick, I think you are right, the box is too tall..we're going to make two more, probably a foot shorter..

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