Garden Experiments 2014

I don't believe much of anything that doesn't have some evidence to go along with it. Maybe I have issues with authority, or maybe I'm too well-trained as a scientist, but sometimes I don't even believe evidence provided by other people. I like to test things myself.

The garden is my experimental lab. I tested the 'potato towers grow twenty times more potatoes' theory, twice, and now definitively believe that the only advantage of potato towers is ease of harvest.

Two years ago, I sought proof for the garlic growing wisdom that one should remove the scape for the garlic plant to produce a bigger bulb. I planted a large patch of seed garlic. I split the patch down the middle and removed half the garlic scapes for cooking - they usually come up in early June - and left the rest as is. They grew beautiful flowers. At harvest time, we saw clearly that the plants with scapes removed produced bigger bulbs.

2014 Garden Experiments

This year, I've set up trials to answer these garden-related questions:

1. Which is better for production - organic seed garlic from out of state or high quality, locally grown garlic? I planted three varieties of garlic from multiple producers to answer this question. I am running the trial in two separate locations to eliminate location variables.
2. Are seed potatoes worth the cost? Organic culinary potatoes sprout readily and have grown well for me before. I question whether $6/pound seed potatoes are any better than sprouted $2/pound organic grocery potatoes. Because of the availability of seed stock, I wasn't able to choose varieties to directly compare but we can still measure yield from the four varieties planted (one seed stock, one grocery store and two saved over from last year's planting).
3. Can I grow artichokes in Ohio? If so, where? I grew four varieties of artichoke from seed and am planting them in locations around the garden including in the hoop house, the hugelkultur, and in regular beds.  Alex and I fondly remember artichokes from our year living in Monterey, California and we would love to have a source of fresh artichokes again.

Experimenting in the garden excites me and gives me a chance to explore my limits while learning new things to pass on to others.

What are your garden experiments this year?

Garden Experiments 2014

I don't believe much of anything that doesn't have some evidence to go along with it. Maybe I have issues with authority, or maybe I'm too well-trained as a scientist, but sometimes I don't even believe evidence provided by other people. I like to test things myself.

The garden is my experimental lab. I tested the 'potato towers grow twenty times more potatoes' theory, twice, and now definitively believe that the only advantage of potato towers is ease of harvest.

Two years ago, I sought proof for the garlic growing wisdom that one should remove the scape for the garlic plant to produce a bigger bulb. I planted a large patch of seed garlic. I split the patch down the middle and removed half the garlic scapes for cooking - they usually come up in early June - and left the rest as is. They grew beautiful flowers. At harvest time, we saw clearly that the plants with scapes removed produced bigger bulbs.

2014 Garden Experiments

This year, I've set up trials to answer these garden-related questions:

1. Which is better for production - organic seed garlic from out of state or high quality, locally grown garlic? I planted three varieties of garlic from multiple producers to answer this question. I am running the trial in two separate locations to eliminate location variables.
2. Are seed potatoes worth the cost? Organic culinary potatoes sprout readily and have grown well for me before. I question whether $6/pound seed potatoes are any better than sprouted $2/pound organic grocery potatoes. Because of the availability of seed stock, I wasn't able to choose varieties to directly compare but we can still measure yield from the four varieties planted (one seed stock, one grocery store and two saved over from last year's planting).
3. Can I grow artichokes in Ohio? If so, where? I grew four varieties of artichoke from seed and am planting them in locations around the garden including in the hoop house, the hugelkultur, and in regular beds.  Alex and I fondly remember artichokes from our year living in Monterey, California and we would love to have a source of fresh artichokes again.

Experimenting in the garden excites me and gives me a chance to explore my limits while learning new things to pass on to others.

What are your garden experiments this year?

How NOT to Grow Potatoes

Sometimes my inner voice says I'm too preachy about things. It is true that I share a lot more success stories than mistakes. So far, our potato growing has been nothing but missteps and I'm ready to share so we all can learn from them. Here are all the ways I do NOT recommend you grow potatoes. 1) Give potato buckets only a little drainage. Last year we tried growing some seed potatoes in old buckets. I washed them and Alex added a row of holes near the bottom. I said "Don't we need holes on the bottom and up the sides?" But he insisted the single row was enough.

It wasn't. The potatoes grew but rotted before they set new tubers.

Because we still have the buckets and they aren't useful for much else now, I will drill drain holes all over the things this year and try again.

2) Plant potatoes near the pets. Our chickens and dogs conspired against us to destroy the potatoes planted in dirt. Just as they do all over the yard, chickens dug around the potato bed. We gently covered over the exposed seed potatoes and they did continue growing.

In late summer, Devie caught drift of the tubers. What spuds the chickens didn't peck, she gnawed on. That dog will eat anything.

3) Harvest too early. One day at our community garden plot, we were overanxious about harvesting potatoes. The first plants we dug had only tiny tubers. After waiting for several more weeks for the plants to truly die back and leaves to wither, the harvest was much greater.

4) Believe the potato tower myth. For two years now we have operated under the promise of harvesting 100 pounds of potatoes from a few pounds of seeds. We set up our potato tower, added soil, and waited to harvest. Both years we harvested 10 pounds for our one pound planted.

Like One Straw, we found no evidence that potatoes are sending out new tuberlets each time they are covered. The idea that perpetuates the potato tower myth seems to be truly false.

There are still several advantages to the tower.The harvest was dead simple because once the sides were removed the potatoes were visible. It required no digging.

Our animals had no way to get to the tower potatoes. Drainage and watering were not a problem in the open bottomed tower.

Good ideas:

• Space potatoes at a foot or so apart.
• Plant in a mix of soil and straw, hilling up with more soil and straw as the tuber grows.
• Remove flowers when they appear. Legend has it that Marie Antoinette like these flowers for her hair and they are very beautiful.
• Allow potatoes plants to be totally spent, i.e. very yellowed and hanging over, before harvesting.
• Elevating or containing the beds make harvesting easy.

There is one modification to the tower idea that might allow greater harvest in a four foot square area. After the potatoes shoot up 1 foot of stem, train the stem out the side of the tower between planks. Place another layer of soil and seed potatoes on top and allow those to grow as normal. One could be growing two crops on top of each other. We will experiment with this idea this year.

Good luck fellow spud growers! Share your challenges and solutions in the comments.

PS. Don't forget about my free basic gardening ebook, Grow Your Garden! Plant something edible soon.

Added to Simple Lives Thursdays 33.

Easter Weekend Workout

We weren't in a gym, but Alex, Lil and I exercised our bodies this weekend!  We were outside almost all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  We're exhausted and exhilarated.  Here's what happened:

The deck was torn down.  Lucky for us, the builders were poor at concrete setting and posts came out fairly easily.  They also used subpar techniques for covering the crawl space and we got to replace wood on the sides of the house; not so lucky.

Alex built new stairs.

I built a raised bed from some reclaimed deck wood.  And I took a crummy picture. The sun was setting and I was TIRED.

Our hens gave us three eggs yesterday. It's fascinating to me that each breed has a different egg shape and color. From top to bottom, these eggs are from the Sussex, Australorp, and Orpington breeds.

Lil played in a post hole.  Why not?

Lil and the dogs hunted for Easter eggs this morning.

We planted one potato tower, two potato buckets, and one straw bale potato bed.  We have even more seed potatoes to plant in our rented plot.

I dug furrows and planted three asparagus crowns in the new raised bed.  I also tucked three crowns into the strawberry bed.  I'll write more about asparagus later because it's a fascinating plant.

We hiked, slowly and with many stops, around Highbanks Park today, studying wildflowers, birds, and the sound rocks make when thrown in streams.

We shared dinner with my parents and sisters, Alex's parents and brother, and two of my grandparents.  Lil was showered with more gifts including the bunny above, hand sewn by my grandmother.

Our faces are sun kissed and the floor inside is muddy.  Dirt and seeds have new homes as we have new stairs to walk upon.  It was a great weekend.  How was yours?

Potato Tower Promise

The premise:

Plant 1 pound of seed potatos in a potato tower (described below) and nearly a hundred pounds of potatos will fall at your feet at harvest time.  The premise is that each time you load up the tower with more soil, potatos send out more baby tubers that then grow into full size potatos.

The experience:

We planted a potato tower in mid summer 2009 with two pounds of mixed seed potatos gifted by a coworker of Alex and store bought red potatos.

The result:

We harvested about five pounds of tiny potatos.  My faith in the space saving potato tower was low.

The promise:

At the Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Assocation annual conference, I shared my not-so-awe-inspiring experience.  A few people in the crowd had success with the potato tower because they started earlier in the season and allowed more growth between soil coverings.  My interest was renewed.

The plan:

This year, we will start our potato tower as soon as the potatos from our group buy arrive and sprout.  I am expecting them this week.

Our tower is a 2 x 2 foot box with 4 feet of 2x4 inch lumber vertical supports.  2x8s form the sides.  I have seen plans for potato towers made from stacked rubber tires or five gallon buckets slices too.  The basic concept is to use something to contain the soil vertically.

We will space a pound or two of a single variety of seed potatos right on the top of the soil.  Store bought potatos sometimes produce but not always, so buying seed potatos is the way to go for a generous harvest.  If you didn't order with the group buy, you can find a small variety of seed potatos at most garden centers.

We will cover them with 4 or 5 inches of soil mixed with compost and some hay.

When the plants are 8 inches above the height of the 2x8 side, we will add the second row of side panels and cover with 6 more inches of dirt, always leaving at least 6 inches of plant growth.

We will add soil at least one more time.

When the leaves of the plant begin to yellow, we will remove the sides and mountains of potatos will fall at our feet.  That's the plan, anyways.

Rob from One Straw: Be the Change has a nice summary of his experience with the potato tower.  His yield with the tower was similar to mine and he was not impressed.

Rob suggests two other space saving techniques: growing potatos in buckets and in a straw bale.  Seeing as we have one of each of those already, we will try those two methods and stick some seed potatos in a raised bed for a solid comparison of potato growing techniques.  Stay tuned for updates on the great 2010 potato growing showdown.

How do you plan to grow potatos this year?