Spring garden planning!

[Jes]

Sooo, i've got a verryyy looonnggggg list for my vegetable garden next year, because I love Love LOVE fresh produce. If I were to choose between candy/chocolate and fruits/vegetables, I'd take the latter, every time. People tell me I'm a nutcase, but I don't mind.

I don't have the weather (or facilities) to grow the exotics like kiwi, bananas, etc. but the normal stuff is all on my list. I've broken our yard up into quadrants and each area has been designated specific plants according to how much light/shade/drainage they need. My biggest question is potatoes. I've never attempted to grow them before because you have to have a lot of space (correct?). I'm going to try to do a spring. summer, then fall garden, rotating things out as they fall out of season. Where would potatoes fall in the proccess? Is it wise to plant them in the same area as everything else, or should I create a seperate plot off to the side somewhere? Would it be possible to rotate squash/watermelon/pumpkins with the potatoes, or are they typically in season at the same time? (All my books/research papers are at home, so I can't refer to them at the moment. I also wanted to get some other p.o.v's.)

I'm so excited that I'm practically bouncing out of my seat!! I've got my chicks ordered (to be delivered in March) and I'll be ordering my seeds in January or February so that I can get some of them started indoors (that will be something else that is new to me). I get so bored so easy, so I'm always trying to find hobbies to keep me busy outside. Winter sucks, because I don't do cold very well. I look forward to spring and summer...fall is alright, too, except it means that winter is on the way.

Advice? If you see any flaws in my logic, let me know! ;D

Oh, does anyone know where I can get a couple of rhubarb plants, already started?? Or, is anybody on KFC selling some?

[39chicks1cow]

Excellent thread! I can't wait to see the replies you get. We tried potatoes this last summer, and it wasn't worth it for me. I could have bought a 10 pound bag for what I grew and paid for the seed potatoes. Maybe I'm doing it wrong. HA! very possible! I can buy sweet potatoes so cheaply, that I wouldn't waste my garden space. I try to grow stuff that's expensive or unavailable locally. Good luck!

Jennifer

[greenmountainwife]

I'll be watching this thread. We finally sold our current house and will be moving to our new "farm" in January, All I've ever grown is container tomatoes, I will be having my very first real garden this year!

[farmeratheart]

I don't know how to post the link but there was another thread about growing potatoes against a wall in waste hay/straw complete with pix.

[Jan V]

I think the best part of gardening is the planning stage. I love those seed catalogs! But the best information for you would be LOCAL information. What works for me in Texas, or what works for someone in Oregan or Maine might not work so well in Kentucky. So I would advise you to go to your county extension office and get local info. They can tell you what to plant and when to do it for the best success.

I have a rather small garden (four raised beds, 4x16 ft. each). I plant potatoes every year in February. They don't require a huge amount of space. And they taste so much better than what I can get at the store. I don't grow enough to last us all year, but while we have it, it is wonderful!

Most sweet potatoes are long vining plants, but there are some that are considered "short vine" or "bush" and I plant those. There are so many different heritage varieties that have superior flavor to those you buy at the supermarket. Again, I can't plant enough to last a whole year for us, but for awhile we have some mighty fine dining!

Another thing you may want to think about, is to start small and work your way up. It's great to plant a big garden, but maintaining it in the heat of the summer is no fun. So don't plant more than you can keep up with.

Good luck and happy gardening!

[farmeratheart]

This will give you some great ideas on what can be accomplished in a small space.

[Jenn]

Potatoes are SOOOOO easy....toss them on the ground and spread spoiled hay over them about 3-4 inches thick. You can plant them mid March here, but I didn't get mine out until April/May, I think.

losingcreekfarm.blogspot.com/2010/07/purple-potatoes.html

-Jenn

[Jes]

Another thing you may want to think about, is to start small and work your way up. It's great to plant a big garden, but maintaining it in the heat of the summer is no fun. So don't plant more than you can keep up with.

This is VERY good advice! *LOL* The first year I grew a garden, it wasn't necessarily too large to handle, but I had to haul the water to it in buckets because there wasn't any nearby access to water. It was AWFUL! I finally broke down and bought enough water-hoses to connect together so that it could reach the garden, but I had to watch it because the dogs chewed them.

I've found info on my region for growing. I was just curious about how everyone plants. Like, certain plants next to certain plants, stuff like that. Normally I just plant it all, water it so that it doesn't die, and keep an eye out for produce. I want to do things a little more organized this year.

I really hope that my blueberry and blackberry plants survive!! I'm so afraid that I'm going to kill them before the summer!

[sarathefarmer]

www.themindfulconsumer.com/?p=169

Here is my website, and my (expensive) foray in to growing
potatoes in grow bags. I had no land of my own (townhouse with
No backyard) so after buying the dirt, containers, and
potatoes, I was learning about urban farming. I have moved
to a place with probably much less land than everyone on KFC
But more land than I have had in the past
....but it doesn't stop my love of trying to grow food for my family-
and the next move? A place for a cow!

[Jes]

Seed potatoes are difficult to find! It looks like I'm going to have to order them from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. How much does one pound of seed potato produce? (I'm leaning toward the Rose Gold variety, if that makes a difference.) Also, $14.00 seems a little steep for one pound...? My husband and I both love potatoes. How many pounds would I have to order to be able to harvest enough to last us through the winter?

[farmer48]

that is expensive i dont know what part of kentucky your from but here in my neck of the woods are inexpensive at most hardware stores and other places and there is nothing like new potatoes in the spring so yummy hard to say about how many you need to last a winter

[Jes]

Northern Ky region. Halfway between Cincinnati and Lexington. Or, as we call it, BFE.

The price I quoted was from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. I can only think of one mom and pop store here that might carry seed potatoes. We're mostly a tobacco and beef cattle area. I've looked online at our county extension office for information, and it was about as useful as a dead cat. Seriously. The most interesting page was about radiation exposure/poisoning. (Which by the way, why on EARTH did they decide that three pages of radiation facts was important for our county?? That was some scary food for thought! For comparisons' sake, I typed in Idaho Extension Office and clicked on a few random counties; not one THING about radiation poisoning. Called me paranoid, but )

So now I'm on the hunt for seed potatoes. Is it possible to simply buy a bag of potatoes at Wally World, cut them up and toss them in a pile of dirt and grow them that way?

[Becky in TX]

Different state exact same extension office. Our property tax dollars hard at work.

[Jes]

HA! I don't pay property tax! *LOL* Sorry. Couldn't resist. I pay rent though, so I suppose that helps pay property tax in the long run. But yeah, it was a total joke. They've got a calendar from this previous year with all their big to-do's...it was pretty much empty. There were more counsel meetings than anything else. Question: What does a counsel need to meet for when they don't do anything?? Answer: They have to organize the one-week-of-the-year "county fair"; which is also a joke.

[jerseycowgirl]

Do you have any amish or mennonite stores in your area? I buy my seed potatoes from them. Last spring I paid 18.00 for a 50 lb sack. I harvested around 300 lbs of potatoes. You can't use the potatoes from the grocery store because they treat them with a chemical so that they won't sprout.... they last longer on the shelf. I've also seen seed potatoes at Orshelens and Tractor supply.
Hope you find some
Pam

[greenacres (TN)]

We are in west Tn, so not that far from you. We did well with regular and sweet potatoes last year. We can plan middle of march and I did just like Jenn, covered them with spoiled hay, they were easy to harvest, didn't have to dig the ground, just pulled the hay and picked potatoes, had enough for about six months and now we are eating on sweet potatoes, yum.
vlasta

[suzysunshine]

Potatoes, onions and green onions are my lazy crops. I live in Central Florida and the hot summers are not for gardens, At least not for me. Been here 40 years and still do most of my gardening in the winter months. I always plant my potatoes and such from store stuff that starts growing when I dont use it fast enough. I take the net bag out to a corner of the front side where the cows cant go and set them down as is. I dump the staw from the chicken nests over the top, dump some water on and watch them grow. Of course its not really farming but they multiply ande I have enough for just the two of us old buggers. Hope you dont think I'm nuts but the heat wins every time. Suzy..

[hippygoatldy]

Have you looked up FEDCO seeds or Bakers Creek heirloom seeds? I am rpetty sure they carry many many types of seed potatoes, and are guranteed pretty much not to be GMO or nasty. Fairly reasonable if I remember correctly. I have yet to order mine, but am looking at getting them from FEDCO in Maine, I am in western NY and we can get seed potatoes from tractor supply, walmart!! kmart lol and hardware store as well as the feed mill! Good luck! Oh and I grew my potatoes by just putting them down onto layers of newspaper covered with compost and then covered them with old hay and more compost. Grew like crazy! Have to keep hilling them so they dont go green though.
becca