Potatoes 2011

I have planted less potatoes that in previous years partly because last year the Colorado Beetle was so dreadful. Yesterday I put in one row of Pink Fir, two rows of King Edwards and I still have two rows of Maris Piper to plant.

If anyone has a dream cure for Colorado Beetle I'd love to hear it! Too many to squish by hand - a vacuum cleaner might do it but the cable isn't long enough! Any ideas?

My family and other vegetables

Only my husband could send his 15 year old son into a sex shop without realising what he was doing. They were in Angers collecting some upholstery supplies for me and Ralph got bored (there's only one person working in the shop and it can take a VERY long time). So he told Ralph to go and check out the toy shop 50 metres away. It didn't occur to him to wonder why there would be a toy shop in such an out of the way place - he of all people (he used to be in the toy business) knows that there are few enough left in the town centres; and of course Ralph didn't think - he is after all 15. Off he went and in he went. The French don't like using anglo words very much so the very fact that this was called a Toy Shop should have been a clue in itself but of course Max hadn't really done the thinking and the name of the shop had been partially hidden behind another sign so he'd missed the rest of the sign, "Votre Espace Coquine", altogether.

Which brings me to the potatoes. We've started digging the Charlottes. A little early but with every plant there are at least six enormous orange slugs. At the end of the line we turned around and there was an army of them marching off in disgust. However, this afternoon I dug the ones out of the flower bed and there wasn't a slug to be seen. Why the flower bed? Well, the soil is very poor and it just seemed a good way to break up the soil and get lots of lovely manure in there all at once. I'll plant it out again in the autumn so it looks nice next year. We still have about eight more slug lines of Charlottes to go. These are in the new veg patch and quite a way from the moat so perhaps the frogs haven't come up this far. Also, the chickens don't go in there because of the electric fence - next year we'll plant potatoes outside of the fence.

Anyway, they all need storing so I was back in the workshop afterwards making my potato sacks. They are about 45cms x 60cms and after filling them we store them in a cool and very dark shed. I bring them into the kitchen as I need them and store them in the big vegetable rack covered over with a large feed bag - again cutting all light. This last is considered eccentric by the family but on the whole it prevents them from going green.

I've also been dealing with some of the garlic. Max rigged up a rack in the barn (see below) where we've put most of it but I suspect that some won't store for too long (they'd started bolting) so I've taken the smaller ones and any others that looked a bit ropey or had bolted and roasted them. I then put them into jars in olive oil. Oh, yes, delicious! Well, ok, they won't store for long either but at least we will have enjoyed them!

The new veggie plot

The new vegetable plot is now as stuffed full of promising things as is possible in a first year. There are plenty of weeds too but we left reasonably wide strips between the veg beds so on really calm days we can put round up over the worst of these. The strawberries, tomatoes, courgettes and cucumbers are growing through plastic sheeting which will obviously help with the weeds and the potatoes have such a wonderful amount of leaf that the weeds are more or less in the dark. The raspberries for some reason seem to be weed free for the moment. The peas on the other hand, well, let's just say it's hard to tell where the weeds finish and the peas begin!

I didn't realise until we started work on this new piece of land just how well cultivated the first plot is. For a start the soil just looks better in the old plot. It seems to be much more crumbly and easier to dig. It's also much easier to put tomatoe spirals into as I discovered this morning when I tried to put three more into the new plot. They went down about 8 inches after a lot of prodding around and putting my full weight on the spiral. I then did the same in the old plot and nearly buried the entire spiral as it just went in so easily!

Of course the old plot has had masses and masses of farmyard manure worked into it over the past ten years. I do wonder if that means that the new plot won't give such a good yield of veg and fruit but so far we've had a fabulous crop of early strawberries and there are already small fruits on the tomatoes. And the spuds will be ready soon - I had a poke around this morning and there are plenty of little ones just under the soil.

It's a lot of work starting a new vegetable plot from scratch and I know that I took a lot of shortcuts so I will suffer more weeds than I should but on the whole I think I am well pleased. Previously this piece of land had been a pasture for sheep and cattle; I suppose now it's the same, but for us.

Problem solved

I had a couple of hours last week - between rainstorms that is - and weeded the new potato patch. This is going to be an arduous exercise through the coming months as we didn't really clear the area of weeds very well and then we put the rotavator over it. Still, potatoes are a good veg to start with as all the earthing up helps with the weed clearing - sort of.

I got into a rhythm of weeding a line and earthing up as I went along. All was going well, Radio 4 was keeping me company and the rain held off. Then the chickens arrived just as I finished. Previously I've not minded. They clear the grubs and leave manure at the same time. But as I watched I realised they were getting their richest pickings by unearthing all my hard work. This was not good! I gave chase and they went elsewhere. I redid the job and went in just as the rain started.

The following morning I went out and once again a whole line of potato plants had been uncovered and some stems broken. The chickens were still locked up; this time it was rabbits! That was it. The electric fence which had been in our minds as a job to be done was bought to the front of the queue. The conversation was along the lines of:

"OK, I'll do it next week."

"No, today. Else I'm not planting another single vegetable and you can say goodbye to the French beans."

That was sufficient! We had a lovely afternoon which we thought of as "family time" and the two boys concerned thought of as "another chore". There were also a lot of laughs about not needing to fence the vegetables. "Why on earth are you fencing the vegetables Mum? They can't get out you know." But I was determined.

We now have two strands at tripping up height going all the way around the new veg patch and so far it's worked. Not a rabbit in sight and although the cockerel did get in, he didn't try a second time! Result!

Feeling virtuous

For years now, five at least, I've been talking the talk and carefully avoiding the hard work.


We have four flower borders on the lawn which I created about 10 years ago. My parents were selling their house and I was taking some plant cuttings from the beautiful garden. I did a trip to England and came back with about 80 cuttings all potted up. Most of the cuttings came from the borders in the picture on the left but I've included the picture on the right as it is the pond I fell into when I was about four and my brother insisted on taking his brand new watch off before he pulled me out - the watch had been a Christmas present so the water was COLD!

Nearly all took and many have seeded and developed. Anyway, I dug the flower beds in a hurry and although I was pretty good about clearing the roots I was working in a field that had recently been cow pasture. So very fertile but full of perenial weeds.

The borders in June showing many of the imported plants.

I realised very quickly that the only solution would be to start again but as the beds developed it seemed a real shame to empty them out. I also didn't fancy more back breaking digging and no-one else wanted to do it! Clearly a rotation was required and today we cleared, more or less, the first bed. More or less means that as there are two pear trees, one at each end, we've cleared between them. We solemnly dug up old friends and split them up and replanted elsewhere. We took out as many weed roots as possible and we have covered it in wonderful manure from the farm next door (same cows!).

Finally, so that we won't be tempted to put plants and flowers back in before the autumn, I've put in some seed potatoes. This is my cunning plan for improving the soil and it also uses up a few more of the seed potatoes. I'm hopeless at mounding up potatoes and instead I put "stuff" directly all over the potato beds. "Stuff" includes, in no particular order, garden compost, manure, leaf mould, straw. Usually about three doses is enough to keep the tubers covered and prevent them going green and the result is that once all the potatoes have been removed from the bed the soil is absolutely wonderful.

Once this first bed is replanted we can clear the second bed - more potatoes if my plan works! - and so on until all four are done. I just hope it isn't like painting the Skye Bridge!

A Mixed Week

The list from last week is definitely shorter but not as short as I would like. However, one reason is because I was working on a client's chair and that is better than no work at all - therefore no complaints!

We haven't got around to putting more chicken eggs into the incubator and I still haven't bought the broad bean seeds. Still time so no worries.

However, the first lot of potatoes (Maris Piper and Aloe) are in. The figs are pruned and the bees food (sugar candy) has been topped up where required. We bought far too many seed potatoes so we will start work on a second potato bed this week. We also need to fence off this whole area against the rabbits. Anyone tried doing this with an electric wire?

I also did an experiment fluid sowing some carrot seed. It's still too cold to sow them outside so I scattered some on a piece of paper and left them covered in the window for a few days. As soon as they started to show signs of development I put them into a mix of cornflour and water and now they are sown in the greenhouse. I've started off the second lot and hope to have them in by the end of the week. I've read about this technique for years and have never tried it - I'll let you know.

One sadness to report. The second goose (Dipstick to his friends) hasn't survived. I came down on Thursday and Donald was making a dreadful racket. His little friend was lying lifeless on the floor of their temporary home. We were not totally surprised. Dipstick took a long time to get out of his egg (hatching time I mean) and despite running around with Donald and seeming very happy he wasn't growing as quickly as his big brother. Donald is growing visibly by the day. Two days ago we were very worried about the attention he was getting from Tickel - Ralph's Teckel or Dachsund. Today however, Tickel actually ran away from him. Whether this was fear of Donald or anticipation of trouble from Max or me I don't know; it won't be long before Donald is the bigger beast though.

Jobs for this week: The extra potato bed; fix the pigs' fencing as they arrive in two weeks time; finish weeding the flower beds and put the manure on them. That should be enough for the time being!

Crop Rotation

Of all things I find this the hardest thing to sort out. It would be so easy if all things were planted on the same day and cropped on the same day. Simple to rotate then. Fortunately, vegetables aren't like that or we would be hungry for half the year.

Crop rotation is essential to growing vegetables to avoid the build up of pests and diseases which hide themselves in the ground and are more than capable of over-wintering and rearing their ugly heads the following year. Not all vegetables need to be rotated but it always helps if it's possible and for some it's vital.

I have done my best to organise my plot into beds and thanks to Max putting slates around them this has worked quite well - although we will have to change them as the hose pipe keeps catching on them. So I have a number of beds with different vegetables in each. So far, so good. But now I've dug up the potatoes what goes in next? I'm about to dig up the onions - what can I put in their place? And after the French beans are finished?

I spent this morning putting my cauliflower (Nautilus) and broccoli (Marathon F1) in the potato bed, together with some leeks (blawgroene herfst) that I bought yesterday. It seems I got it wrong!

I wish I'd found Downsizer first! This is the first time I've seen crop rotation simplified so that even I can understand and follow it - although it's a bit late for the caulis and broccoli unfortunately. Brassicas don't appreciate the ground left by potatoes as it is not firm enough. Well, at least I've discovered this in time to make sure they are well firmed in even if I can't move them. I think the leeks will be ok - I hope so as it took two hours to get them in!

So if you want some help with your crop rotation take a look at Downsizer and see if it helps.

Lessons - learn them!

Well the first problem is that we let the borage which had self-seeded from last year, stay and grow in what this year is the potato bed. It was intentional as the bees love it and are all over it. However, as the borage got bigger and top heavy it has toppled over all the potato plants which have also toppled over! I still have plenty of potatoes but I can only imagine that there has been as effect - perhaps smaller potatoes or less of them?


But it looks pretty!

The second lesson is about growing peas. All the books say to put twiggy sticks in amongst them to grow up. Well, I did that but it clearly wasn't enough and the result was peas falling all over the place. I've rectified this but putting some lines of string between bamboo poles and lifting the peas up and against them. However, again there has been an effect - the stems are bent and although the crop is still a good one a lot of the pods are quite small. But the peas are even sweeter!

And finally - broad beans. We just can't have enough of them and I never grow enough! I know they can be grown during the winter months so I will have to plan accordingly.

Saturday's Labour

We got a lot of work done yesterday in the veggie patch. I dug up the first lot of potatoes and will store them in wonderful sacks from the baker. Potatoes have to be stored in the dark to stop them going green. Some are already green and will have to be disposed of. Others are either damaged from the fork or two small to store - that's fine; they're on the menu tonight!

I put black plastic over the part of the bed that had the potatoes and have planted my courgettes. It's quite late but I'm hoping that with the additional heat they will now get going quite quickly.

I cut down the broad beans as there were no more pods. I have left the base of the plants in ground as there are more flowers on them and I don't know if they will start growing again! I don't think so but thought it would be worth a try. I also put in a row of peas - again a bit late but the packet did say until the end of June...

We have eight cucumber plants and I can't believe all the fruits on them. We will be eating cucumber soup all winter at this rate - but maybe not all the fruits will ripen. I have stopped the ends of all the plants in the hope that some of the energy will go into the fruits now. Again, this is a new one for us and I just don't know what to expect.

Potatoes

It sounds crazy as most people consider potatoes as part of their staple diet, but I've never grown potatoes before. So this year has been an experiment - or rather a few experiments.

The first lot went into the ground in late February. My first mistake: I didn't take a note of what variety they are! I covered them up and then waited. As soon as the first shoots appeared - quite a while later - I put on a good layer of manure. I suspect February was a bit early but I was impatient!



The second lot (again, no name but this time a red variety) went in soon after and again I put manure on them as soon as the shoots appeared.

I knew that they would be susceptible to frost and in late March this was duly forecast so I covered the whole bed with rotting leaves that we'd collected in the autumn. I don't know if this was correct but it sorted out the problem!

The third lot went into a tiny bed we'd made two years ago out of pallets. Initially it was going to be a hot bed but this never happened and it's been lying idle ever since. Still, it had a stack of really well rotted manure and I popped in three seed potatoes (the white ones from the first lot - I'm learning about labels now!) and covered them with black plastic. As soon as I could feel the shoots under the plastic I cut slits and sure enough they started growing through nicely.

The fourth and final lot were put in at the very last minute and they are not in the veggie patch itself but in the new piece of field next door. We've planted a hedge around the border of this field and as the soil had been turned, once the hedge was planted we decided to put in some potatoes - just to use the space really. As it's a field still covered in weeds and wild mint I again put down black plastic. These potatoes are coming up although the success rate is lower and they are not as fast as the others. Perhaps that's the variety (er, ??) or the fact that the field is quite sandy and there is no watering system in place - this shouldn't be a problem yet though. Whatever, for the cost of a few seed potatoes the area is in use and we should get something! There's a lovely smell of mint whenever I go to inspect them. I will have to get it out but for now I'm just enjoying it!