28 July 2007 Growing Potatoes http://moomi.notlong.com/ 28 July 2007 Potato Plant. There is a lot of babble on the internet about growing potatoes with stalks supported by tires and using straw for covering. To my way of thinking this is only complicating matters. One hilling of plants after the main stalks emerge is probably more than sufficient. The view seems to be that potato tubulars are produced along the stalks, which is simply not the case. New potatoes grow from shoots emanating from the very bottom of the stalks in a circle, almost from the seed potato itself. No new potatoes grow below the seed potato. The new potatoes must be protected from light, otherwise they turn green and are somewhat poisonous. Hilling is done to protect the new potatoes from light, and the earth tends to support the weak stalks, since they tend to fall and spread out. Study the attaached pictures, which supports my view. http://www.durgan.org/Blog/Durgan.html
I wish I had planted a crop of potatoes this year because I definately eat them mashed atleast once a week haha. I'm creating and addtional bed onto my existing garden for them next year, I'm wondering what sort of spacing you use? Also, I think the "explosive ember" hot peppers you're growing are quite interesting. I asked a few local nerseries and they said they couldn't find it in their catalogues. Maybe you could point me in the right direction? Thanks!
http://www.veseys.com/ca/en/store/vegetables/peppers/hybridhot/explosiveember http://www.durgan.org/Blog/Durgan.html
Potato spacing was one foot between plants, probably a bit too close. The row spacing was about two feet to allow enough soil for hilling. After hilling I levelled the trough with composted soil to insure the new potatoes would be well covered if they spread out There are two rows with 25 plants in each row. http://www.durgan.org/Blog/Durgan.html
