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#16
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Seed potatoes, Sydney, NSw, Australia, where?
In article ,
"0tterbot" wrote: I might look at Diggers again in Jun which is when they say tubers will be available, but really need another source. 6/7 varieties from diggers have not done well here, aka they die off fast. When did you plant them? i got some from diggers with the same result (in fact, i'm a tad disenchanted with diggers all around, but that's another story). bear in mind their nursery is located in a virtual plant heaven - where most of us live, it's not, really :-) I'm a bit disenchanted with Diggers too. I know part of the problem is climatic -- Diggers is in a Mediterranean climate and I am not -- but I've had some really poor performers that should have been OK, including spuds and garlic. And I do get a bit annoyed when half the catalogue is taken up with Diggers staff ranting about various Causes... even if I happen to agree with them. potatoes are rather a mystery to me, & they caused me some outright panic last year (but i talked myself down ;-) i hope more experience will help with this ;-) Why bother growing spuds? They take up a lot of space for a long period in the vegie patch but are pretty cheap to buy. Very good if you are trying to improve your soil, but I don't think I'd bother otherwise. -- Chookie -- Sydney, Australia (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply) http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/ |
#17
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Seed potatoes, Sydney, NSw, Australia, where?
"Terryc" wrote in message
... 0tterbot wrote: potatoes are rather a mystery to me, & they caused me some outright panic last year (but i talked myself down ;-) i hope more experience will help with this ;-) I think everything is a mystery until you actually grow it in your plot of land. well, yes. but those things which grow underground are particularly mysterious! OR, get them at the ag shop; We have a feed place nearby and I'll try them as the months go by. worth trying. only because they're more likely to have come from somewhere closer. Trouble is that I do not know of any commercial or large scale growers around here. Dormitory suburbs abound. The only growers are further out and definitly asian market gardeners from what we can see. but you don't know until you ask them. :-) as an aside, i was watching a yank medical show one time, where a patient had cadmium poisoning from smoking pot grown in car tyres. because of that, i have been nervous about growing taties in car tyres lest we all get cadmium poisoning. is there any information on this?! (am i just being hysterical?) Various problems 1) TV medical show =/= reality. 2) Growing pot; cue shock horror promo like teen flick horror movie 3) Reusing =/= commie subversive to american way of life. lmao :-) Anything on a TV show is suspect right from the start. TV is for entertainment and propaganda. Far more interesting TV if it involves shock horror; POT. Practically, different plant, different family, take up different nutrient, etc. Age of tyres, make of tyres, type of tyres, where were the tyres manufactured. Why is cadium added to tyres? oh, look i don't know. because americans are loons? whatever the show was, i don't watch it regularly, so i might just carry on regardless. the reason i DON'T watch medical shows (as a rule) is because they're so extreme-disease-of-the-week. same with american cop shows (extreme-serial-killer-of-the-week). etc etc. If it really was cadium, it most likely was a contaminant in fertilisers used. My last pack of trace elements had more contaminants that nutirients including mercury, cadium, etc, etc, etc THIS would actually make more sense. (heavy metals in car tyres????!) kylie |
#18
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Seed potatoes, Sydney, NSw, Australia, where?
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
... "0tterbot" wrote in message but personally, i'd either just be a cheapskate & save them myself, OR, get them at the ag shop; only because they're more likely to have come from somewhere closer. Just for info: I have asked at jeremy's shop where they get their spuds and they told me that they were grown locally. I buy spuds there every time I go in because they are such good spuds. the "local, organic" ones in brown paper bags? i get those sometimes, they're pretty nice. also get them from conrad sometimes (less nice ime [but that might be the variety], & they're from crookwell or somewhere i think? i prefer ours - i just like that fresh taste! (and free-ness). but they're not always available of course. jeremy's veg is actually halfway decent for supermarket veg, which is good. mind you, i rarely buy anything there as mostly they don't have anything i don't have (or want). the other week i was surprised to see a packet of sugar snap peas, nearly $5 for 200g. i thought, gee, i wouldn't mind selling my sugar snaps for $25/kg!! these ones looked like they were packed in about 1963 as well. kylie |
#19
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Seed potatoes, Sydney, NSw, Australia, where?
"Chookie" wrote in message
news:ehrebeniuk-B9DCB5.22152716022008@news... i got some from diggers with the same result (in fact, i'm a tad disenchanted with diggers all around, but that's another story). bear in mind their nursery is located in a virtual plant heaven - where most of us live, it's not, really :-) I'm a bit disenchanted with Diggers too. I know part of the problem is climatic -- Diggers is in a Mediterranean climate and I am not -- but I've had some really poor performers that should have been OK, including spuds and garlic. me too, with ornamentals etc that should have been ok. they do have a return policy, but who ever bothers to do that? And I do get a bit annoyed when half the catalogue is taken up with Diggers staff ranting about various Causes... even if I happen to agree with them. me too. i don't mind the rants - what i mind is where they act contrary to their rants. imo you can't rant about monsanto then advocate using roundup before sowing wildflower seeds. you can't rant about f1 hybrids & then sell f1 hybrids. (i actually don't have a problem with f1 hybrids anyway!) mainly my gripes are pragmatic though. 4 out of 5 orders last year just went missing. this spring i had a couple of seeds sprout which shouldn't have been in the packet at all. etc. potatoes are rather a mystery to me, & they caused me some outright panic last year (but i talked myself down ;-) i hope more experience will help with this ;-) Why bother growing spuds? They take up a lot of space for a long period in the vegie patch but are pretty cheap to buy. Very good if you are trying to improve your soil, but I don't think I'd bother otherwise. well, i AM trying to improve the soil & the taties do seem to really help! beyond that though - a freshly-dug potato is a magnificent thing (i've never got to the point of trying to store any ;-). and lastly, they are pretty low-maintenance, so if they sit in the beds (i have pretty large beds!) for a while it doesn't really bother me. i decided if the crop's not that big it's not a big deal because i didn't have to put much work in. it's things like parsnips which have me disenchanted. they take a VERRRRRY long time, possibly to get just about nothing from them. i completely take your point though. however, i also grow onions even though they're the same - cheap & easy to get anywhere, without taking up room in your garden. but again, onions are so easy i just think "why not?" kylie |
#20
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Seed potatoes, Sydney, NSw, Australia, where?
0tterbot wrote:
the "local, organic" ones in brown paper bags? i get those sometimes, they're pretty nice. also get them from conrad sometimes (less nice ime [but that might be the variety], & they're from crookwell or somewhere i think? i prefer ours - i just like that fresh taste! (and free-ness). but they're not always available of course. I there any chance you two could stop these posts? {:-) I put my great klod in my last bucket of Braidwood desk oil and need to go down and buy more (the local outlet closed) and now you are giving me more reasons for a trip down that way. |
#21
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Seed potatoes, Sydney, NSw, Australia, where?
Chookie wrote:
Why bother growing spuds? They take up a lot of space for a long period in the vegie patch but are pretty cheap to buy. Very good if you are trying to improve your soil, but I don't think I'd bother otherwise. Err, if you apply that logic,then you wouldn't grow anything. In reality it is; 1) TASTE; nothing beats stuff fresh from your garden for taste. 2)chemical content; it only has what I put on it (nil). |
#22
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Seed potatoes, Sydney, NSw, Australia, where?
"Terryc" wrote in message
... 0tterbot wrote: the "local, organic" ones in brown paper bags? i get those sometimes, they're pretty nice. also get them from conrad sometimes (less nice ime [but that might be the variety], & they're from crookwell or somewhere i think? i prefer ours - i just like that fresh taste! (and free-ness). but they're not always available of course. I there any chance you two could stop these posts? {:-) soooorry terry.... :-) I put my great klod in my last bucket of Braidwood desk oil and need to go down and buy more (the local outlet closed) and now you are giving me more reasons for a trip down that way. if it helps to put you off, we have already had the one day of truly wonderful weather we are likely to get this year g!! kylie (who is wondering how someone could put their foot in a bucket of oil...) |
#23
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Seed potatoes, Sydney, NSw, Australia, where?
"Terryc" wrote in message
Chookie wrote: Why bother growing spuds? They take up a lot of space for a long period in the vegie patch but are pretty cheap to buy. Very good if you are trying to improve your soil, but I don't think I'd bother otherwise. Err, if you apply that logic,then you wouldn't grow anything. In reality it is; 1) TASTE; nothing beats stuff fresh from your garden for taste. 2)chemical content; it only has what I put on it (nil). Fresh grown spuds really are wonderful but spuds also aren't one of the things that has a lot of chemicals used on them anyway. |
#24
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Seed potatoes, Sydney, NSw, Australia, where?
In article ,
Terryc wrote: Chookie wrote: Why bother growing spuds? They take up a lot of space for a long period in the vegie patch but are pretty cheap to buy. Very good if you are trying to improve your soil, but I don't think I'd bother otherwise. Err, if you apply that logic,then you wouldn't grow anything. ER, yes you would -- you'd favour vegies that are expensive to buy or that taste significantly better fresh. Asparagus, tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, sweet corn, for example. But I'm speaking as a back yard gardener with fairly limited space. I have grown spuds, but they weren't that rewarding IMO -- probably the drought had something to do with it. THey did improve the soil a bit, but I think the parsnips are doing an even better job. -- Chookie -- Sydney, Australia (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply) http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/ |
#25
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Seed potatoes, Sydney, NSw, Australia, where?
In article ,
"0tterbot" wrote: me too. i don't mind the rants - what i mind is where they act contrary to their rants. imo you can't rant about monsanto then advocate using roundup before sowing wildflower seeds. you can't rant about f1 hybrids & then sell f1 hybrids. (i actually don't have a problem with f1 hybrids anyway!) So I wasn't imagining it, then. Thought they couldn't be that hypocritical... mainly my gripes are pragmatic though. 4 out of 5 orders last year just went missing. this spring i had a couple of seeds sprout which shouldn't have been in the packet at all. etc. I've only ever had one problem and it was rectified promptly -- yes, it was improperly packed. it's things like parsnips which have me disenchanted. they take a VERRRRRY long time, possibly to get just about nothing from them. Ah -- there is a trick to them, which I heard about from Margaret Simons in her lovely little book "Wheelbarrows, chooks and children". You need to let the parsnips go to seed. Once they go to seed, you have a seed-bank in the soil. They will pop up everywhere and grow decently, because the better-adapted ones will survive. Every now and again, let a few more go to seed (yes, I know it's hard...) to keep the process going. -- Chookie -- Sydney, Australia (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply) http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/ |
#26
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Seed potatoes, Sydney, NSw, Australia, where?
Chookie wrote:
In article , Terryc wrote: Chookie wrote: Why bother growing spuds? They take up a lot of space for a long period in the vegie patch but are pretty cheap to buy. Very good if you are trying to improve your soil, but I don't think I'd bother otherwise. Err, if you apply that logic,then you wouldn't grow anything. ER, yes you would -- you'd favour vegies that are expensive to buy or that taste significantly better fresh. The taste is the reason here. Also relaxing activity, most of the time. Asparagus, tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, sweet corn, for example. But I'm speaking as a back yard gardener with fairly limited space. Same here. I am not really prepared to do what my grandfather did and have the veges right up to the back door. I have grown spuds, but they weren't that rewarding IMO -- probably the drought had something to do with it. THey did improve the soil a bit, but I think the parsnips are doing an even better job. We tend to like trying new stuff as well as rolling over old reliables. Our major problem is stuff below the ground is only small. We still need to crack the problem. We are currently debating 4 tonne of river sand to improve drainage, The beds are raised 2'-4' but it is heavy clay derived soil and I think some stuff just doesn't like it. Also, might be the continual rain of gum leaves, but the tree is definitely staying. |
#27
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Seed potatoes, Sydney, NSw, Australia, where?
In article ,
Terryc wrote: Our major problem is stuff below the ground is only small. We still need to crack the problem. We are currently debating 4 tonne of river sand to improve drainage, The beds are raised 2'-4' but it is heavy clay derived soil and I think some stuff just doesn't like it. Correct. Carrots will fork in clay soil; they grow happily in a bucket of sand. Most root crops produce well in soil they can get through fairly easily. I'd go for raising the beds -- if you have a 2" bed you will have 2" carrots, and so on. Nothing wrong with adding SOME sand, as long as you are getting it cheap and it is fairly coarse. Fine sand will just wash out of raised beds, unless there is lots of organic matter to hold it in place. I'd be going for straw and manure, personally. -- Chookie -- Sydney, Australia (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply) http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/ |
#28
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Seed potatoes, Sydney, NSw, Australia, where?
Chookie wrote:
I'd be going for straw and manure, personally. Unfortunately, all the cheap/free sources are a bit lacking in the manure part. The rabbit and horse bedding I can get is 90% wood shavings. But, we keep piling it on and it is slowly working for other stuff. |
#29
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Seed potatoes, Sydney, NSw, Australia, where?
In article ,
Terryc wrote: Chookie wrote: I'd be going for straw and manure, personally. Unfortunately, all the cheap/free sources are a bit lacking in the manure part. The rabbit and horse bedding I can get is 90% wood shavings. I think that's pretty much right -- doesn't compost need one part nitrogenous matter to 9 parts carboniferous? -- Chookie -- Sydney, Australia (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply) http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/ |
#30
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Seed potatoes, Sydney, NSw, Australia, where?
Chookie writes:
Why bother growing spuds? They take up a lot of space for a long period in the vegie patch but are pretty cheap to buy. Very good if you are trying to improve your soil, but I don't think I'd bother otherwise. For the taste. Fresh homegrown spuds have an entirely different taste compared with the field spuds sold in supermarkets. Besides, their price of spuds (was $3.99/kg, now $2.99/kg) makes them worth growing. That's the same price as apples. Better to grow potatoes, which don't require spraying and are immune to attack from flying foxes and parrots and are somewhat safe from hail, and let the farmer manage all the trouble involved in growing your fruit. The only real hazard facing potatoes is prolonged wet soil. -- John Savage (my news address is not valid for email) |
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