POTATOES

[2 Green Thumbs]

The weather is mild and rainy to day warm and rainy tomorrow and warm and rainy on monday, hopefully this weather will help everything I have planted so far.

[gixxerific]

4 -6 month's, well that is about how long it took for a few I missed last season to volunteer in my garden.

[Duets]

Now I am just plain discouraged...I was out checking on the garden after work and got curious as to how much growth I had on my spuds so I dug one up on the end of a row and it looked just like it did when I put it in the ground 9 days ago I am a real greenhorn at this so maybe I am over reacting.

It will be OK, take up needlepoint, reading or birdwatching, lol. Patience!

[GardenGnome]

If you bury the whole plant will it die and then kill your potatoes?

[2 Green Thumbs]

If you bury the whole plant will it die and then kill your potatoes?

I take it you mean when you are hilling them after they have come up???

[GardenGnome]

Yeah I bult up the sides of the box and am filling it in. Im trying not to bury the smaller plants. How far do you hill the plants? I'm up to a foot on some will it just keep growing?

[2 Green Thumbs]

Well the lettuce came trough the ground nicely, still no signs of potatoes or carrots. Now with this lettuce I think I may have fluffed up alittle bit. I planted mine in 12 inch rows between my onions. So I have onion sets planted maybe 10 or 12 in a row then a 12 inch straight line of lettuce. I see now that most space this type of lettuce ( buttercrunch) to one plant every 12 inchs. Will each of the little sprout leaves turn into a head? So when I thin do I take out all but one sprout. I mean the little leaves are packed into that 12 inch row, what would happen if I just left them.

Strawberries look nice and green and seem to be doing well but only have one flower and it has been there for 2 weeks with no other flowers appearing. I did just plant them a month ago is this normal. When mulching strawberry plants do you cover the plants or just between the plants in the rows. And when do you take mulch off, or is it ok to leave all summer and witnter?

Thanks to all for reading
AND BIG BIG THANKS TO ALL WHO REPLY

[greenstubbs]

If you bury the whole plant will it die and then kill your potatoes?

Well isn't that just great! I just had to bury one plant that's next to some that are going bonkers! Half of my box they are huge and the other are about 1/2 the size of them. There's about a foot difference of earth in the box and it seems to be getting bigger as time passes. I did take a pic to show the difference and would post but I can't even get a avatar to take, so the heck with trying to post a pic.
People say not to use store bought spuds that have sprouted because of this & that, but I'll tell you that my store bought ones are doing so much better than the seed spuds that I got. Depending on my harvest will tell weather or not I ever do seed spuds again.

[jal_ut]

Yeah I bult up the sides of the box and am filling it in. Im trying not to bury the smaller plants. How far do you hill the plants? I'm up to a foot on some will it just keep growing?

You only need to hill the potatoes one time about 3 inches. The only reason for doing this is so that the developing tubers will not pop out into daylight and turn green.

[Dillbert]

here's my little secret: I never bother hilling up potatoes.
I plant them about 4 inches deep, cover and mulch - that's it.

as to hilling:
I've heard people say you have to hill them because the potatoes only grow above the depth of the seed you planted. apparently somebody forgot to tell that to my seed potatoes, or perhaps I have anti-gravity potatoes - it just isn't true.

jal's advice about exposure to sunlight is true. one or two in my patch pop through. then again, I do try to keep them heavily mulched.

as to using grocery store potatoes for seed:
there's two cautions, actually....
one - most have been treated with an anti-sprouting compound - which as your experience indicates is not 100% certain or 100% effective.

two - you can buy certified disease free seed potatoes, not so with spuds from the produce section. there are a number of soil borne potato diseases; once you've got it in your soil it's there forever.

[2 Green Thumbs]

My spuds have still not broken ground, I dug up a seed on the end of one of my rows and it had sprouts about 2inchs long on the eyes, am I ok or do I replant?

Also I planted my lettuce inbetween my carrots in about 12inch furrows that I put a line of seed in. not that they have been up for awhile I am wondering about thinning. What if I do nothing? If I do thin them do I only leave one sprout in each space?

Anyone use PREEN on the ground after tilling before they plant tomatoes?

[2cents]

2 weeks ago, I sat my taters(with 1/4 to 1/2 inch eyelet clusters) on top of the ground & covered with 2 inches of composted leaf & such
1/2 of them have green leaves sticking through

I will apply another 2-4 inch of compost(leaves & straw) in another month

[rainbowgardener]

My spuds have still not broken ground, I dug up a seed on the end of one of my rows and it had sprouts about 2inchs long on the eyes, am I ok or do I replant?

Also I planted my lettuce inbetween my carrots in about 12inch furrows that I put a line of seed in. not that they have been up for awhile I am wondering about thinning. What if I do nothing? If I do thin them do I only leave one sprout in each space?

Anyone use PREEN on the ground after tilling before they plant tomatoes?

If the sprouts are growing, that is they are longer than when you planted the potatoes, then you should be ok. Just be patient and keep watering as needed.

Yes you are going to need to thin the lettuce and probably the carrots too. Both of those have very tiny seeds and for me at least tend to come up kind of clustered. If you want the carrots to make good roots they have to have a bit of space around them, like at least a couple inches in every direction. If you want the lettuce to make heads, then it needs at least 6" in every direction, from ONE sprout. If you don't care about making heads and just want to pick leaves from it, it can be a little more crowded. But if you don't thin, they will all be competing with each other and none of them will do very well.

No, I would never use Preen in my garden. Here's a thread about it:

http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... 139#250139

If you have tilled, you should have gotten rid of most of the weeds. Just hoe out what sprouts after that, before you plant the tomatoes and then mulch thoroughly.

[2 Green Thumbs]

SUCESS...my potatoes came through and look amazing, I was able to till between the rows last night now that I can see them clearly with the plants up, I have been dying to take care of the weeds and grass int he garden,.

[2cents]

congrats!
Patience is the key when waiting for veggies.