Remember how I dug up tons of rocks from my garden?

[conuly]

Sadly, that might not even be hyperbole.

Well, I also saved some farmers market potatoes to plant once they sprouted. Waste not, want not, and the ones I got are seriously delicious.

They were sprouting all over the place, and still the ground has been frozen, and I've been itching to get them into the ground before it is too late, so finally I googled it, and found that potatoes go in the ground BEFORE the last frost date! Specifically, four to six weeks before. Our last frost date is mid April, which means potatoes go in round about the ides (don't you always refer to the ides of March as the ides?), which is NOW.

Woo hoo! So I cut them up and searched about for a trowel. No luck, but I can use a shovel, right? It's a bit overkill, but...

Turns out it wasn't overkill. Turns out I hadn't gotten everything like I thought. Turns out there were three or four forty pound rocks (and several smaller ones, smaller being a very relative term here) smack dab under my potato spot. Lovely. I was digging and tossing rocks for an hour before I could get my potatoes in, and then I was so tired I just sorta scattered them instead of trying for rows or a grid. They're nicely spaced, anyway, and mulched with all those leaves I have. They need a higher mulch, but it can wait a few minutes.

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Trash cans (http://greenupgrader.com/11708/4-simple-steps-to-grow-a-hundred-pounds-of-potatoes-in-a-barrel/) make awesome potato planters. "With some varieties, the underground stolons which produce potato tubers keep on forming new ones for some time. In containers the yield may be increased 200-3000 percent compared with open-field culture. This is a great way to grow a lot of potatoes in a very limited space. We recommend doing this with Yellow Finn, Indian Pit, Red Pontiac, or the fingerling types."

Here's an article you might like: Make your own upside down tomato planter (http://www.cheapvegetablegardener.com/make-your-own-upside-down-tomato/) - good suggestions down in the comments, too.

[conuly]

I love fingerlings as it is! I'll do that next year, put them on the porch.