03-03-2004, 08:12 PM
|
|
|
potatoes
The message
from am contains these words:
Reading all the potato posts here makes me want to try growing them
too. What do you think are the best varieties to grow for a beginner?
The perfect answer, which I suspect will not exist, would be a variety
that is resistant to pests and disease, under/over-watering, and at
the end of it has excellent flavour and can be used for boiling,
mashing, chipping, and roasting!
Maybe the nearest would be Golden Wonder?
Regarding growing in tyres and buckets, what height does the plant
eventually grow to? I am wondering how deep the tyres/buckets have to
be.
About knee height.
I presume that you plant one per tyre/bucket? I have seen potatoes
sold in 1kg bags in the garden centre. If I plant one per bucket, I'm
going to need a lot of buckets! Or is it like buying a pack of 500
seeds: you don't use all of them at once?
I grew 12 in a 24" planter. Some peat in the bottom, then four chitting
spuds, and covered them. When there was enough growth on those four,
four more spuds, and carefully covered them so the tops of the first
four were clear of the surface, and so-on.
You can use a forty gallon drum and get about thirty seed potatoes in
it. Don't forget drainage in the bottom. Only put the peat in loosely or
you'll have an eruption out of the top and some of your spuds won't do
very well.
A better way (especially with plastic drums) is to get a hole saw and
cut four or five holes in the side at the level you plant the first
spuds.
Arrange the spuds evenly in a square or circle, and when the haulm is
long enough, poke it out through the holes and cover the spuds with
peat. Make the next layer of holes, etc.
For the obsessively technically-minded, arrange something which
constantly turns the barrel so all the plants get a similar amount of
light........
HTH
--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/
|