Monday, May 25, 2009

The garden is beginning to produce and its time to bring it in for preservation.


OREGANO

Here is it... Oregano hiding between the broccoli plants


Oregano can be used with most crops, but especially good for cole crops
such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower to repel cabbage butterfly.

When used near cucumbers it repels cucumber beetle.
Also benefits grapes.


Here it is... cut and piled to be tied up
and hung in my dark cool shed.


The next crop to harvest

POTATOES

Potatoes and onions like eachother


Potatoes and corn like eachother
See below, the potatoes are under planted with corn.


My Hubby loves to harvest anything!

My secrets for planting potatoes:

1) Start with nice loose compost rich soil.. a must!

2) Since gophers seems to like these juicy morsels,
we dig and trench about 18 inches deep.

3) lay chicken wire into the trench.

4)Put about 6 inches into the wired tench
and plant the potatoes.

5) Snails love potato leaves... even though they are not edible for humans,
so I cover the plants with field fabric, and staple it down tight to the ground
Voila... no snails get it (:
You can also use snail bait such as:

SLUGGO®
• Kills Snails & Slugs
Can be used around pets & wildlife
• Iron phosphate occurs naturally in soil
• Easy-to-use granular formulation
• Remains effective after rain or sprinkling
• May be used up to & including day of harvest

6) Then, once the plants start to grow and poke up through the soil,
about every 3-4 days add more soil, covering the shoots and
forcing them to grow taller under the soil.
The longer the stem under soil, the more potatoes can form.

7). HARVEST!
All that's necessary now is to dig under the wire...
lift it up,
and pour out all the potatoes!
Yippee!



This is about 30 lbs of potatoes from only 6 plants (:



And one for the road.
This is my newest test trial
Under this little tent are cumin plants.
I don't know yet, but I wonder if I can grown my own cumin
since its almost my favorite herb.


Tell me what you grow?
And if you don't have a garden...
what are your favorites vegetables, fruits and herbs to grow?


8 comments:

  1. Hi Vicki...this is fantastic...I wanted to pick some of those potatoes up...we are having a potato bake tonight for dinner...they would of been perfect!!!

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  2. Hi Vicki,
    I love your beautiful garden and what wonderful produce! My fave thing is green beans, and zuccini! Cindy

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  3. Hello, i'm visiting from Cindy's blog. Your garden makes mine look pathetic! I'm just going to have cucumbers, zuchinni, tomatos, pumpkins, beans and peas. hubby dosnt want to do anything to big because we camp alot and he feels it would end up being work instead of fun.

    I would LOVE those potatos though, i might have to look into those also.

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  4. Every time I see your garden I am envious and amazed! Your potatoes (my favorite fruit!) look absolutely clean and beautiful! Your oregano appears to be incredibly happy!
    Can i coma and live on your farm???
    BTW thank you for you lovely comments (as always) on my blog:)

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  5. NOT coma ( I am usually in one:)- i meant COME and live on your farm ( perhaps it will snap me out of my coma?:)

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  6. I love the info on the potatoes, we are growing our own this year, and onions, lots of onions. I can't believe you are already harvesting, for us that will be months away. Are you able to have two gardens each summer? I bet you can and put up a lot of food...I am going to print this off for my husband, so he'll know we can insert potatoes in our onion rows....and in our corn rows! You are a wealth of information. I've never asked, how did you end up in California!?
    XOXO
    Joni

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  7. Joni, I could grow year-round IF I had the energy. I let myself and the soil rest for about 3 months out of the year. Thank goodness! (:

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  8. Wow, what an incredible garden. I've never tried potatoes. I have tomatoes, egg plant, zucchini and basil in my garden-a very small one.

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