Yesterday was an amazing day with lot’s of sunshine. I was able to work on a few garden projects and one of them was planting a few more vegetables in our square foot garden.
As of today we have 14 of the 32 squares planted. The sugar snap peas and celery we planted 2 weeks ago are doing great.
Mr. Gnome Guy has been able to keep the baby slugs at bay in the mini strawberry patch.
While we were cleaning out the garage over the weekend I found a few more seed potatoes. Against my better judgement I went ahead and planted 2 squares with 1 seed potato each. Carrots may love tomatoes but potatoes sure don’t.
I should probably pull them up and plant them somewhere else. We’ll see.
When I attended the Seattle Tilth Edible plant sale last month I picked up a cheddar cauliflower plant. I’ve never grown orange cauliflower before so I’m pretty excited.
I also transplanted a few snow peas {which are great in stir fry} I had growing in tiny pots in the greenhouse.
So far we have peas, celery, radishes, carrots, onions, beets, Swiss chard, strawberries, cauliflower, broccoli and potatoes growing. Maybe some kale too. I can’t remember. Ha! Luckily I am pretty good at identifying leaves, so I guess I’ll just have to wait a few weeks until and see what I’ve I planted.
This exactly why using plant markers is such a good idea.
Okay, so what do you think? Should I remove the potatoes? Or just go for it. I mean really, how much damage could 2 little potatoes do anyway?
~Mavis
For more information, check out All New Square Foot Gardening. It is an amazon bestseller and the author is basically the king of square foot gardening.
Mari says
Hi Mavis
Potatoes can be planted close together but remember they do have a lot of tall foliage that will droop and cover anything else beside them.
It is much better to plant them in a bed of their own. They need deep soil and your raised bed is not deep enough. I grow mine in a raised bed of their own (14″” deep, but pile soil and straw over them as they come thru the soil to give them protection and soil to spread in. If they are too shallow, the spuds will go green and be inedible. Its best to plant them in a trench and keep covering them with another layer of soil as the come thru for the first month or 6 weeks, and even mound them up in rows. I always finish with a layer of straw to help keep moisture in and protect the early growth from late frosts
Susan says
Google pomato. it is a tomato top grafted to a potato bottom.
http://voices.yahoo.com/grow-own-amazing-pomato-plant-tomatoes-the-223101.html?cat=32
Susan
Mavis says
Interesting! 🙂
Farmer Phyl says
You never posted a follow up to say how your square foot potatoes grew. Like Mari, I also grow my potatoes in a raised bed of their own, 4′ x 8′ and usually harvest 300-400 pounds of potatoes. In the fall I add about a foot of leaves and cover with a tarp. Potatoes will store this way until the following May. Just dig when you need them. I’ve never lost any potatoes to frost (in zone 5 Eastern WA) and luckily don’t have a problem with critters.