Homesteaders

[Chicken girl 15]

Be careful with horse manure

Horse owners have a tendency to be very particular about what their animals eat - they generally want weed free hay, and this can often lead to hay farmers using persistent broadleaf herbicides - which aren't a problem when a horse poops them out in a horse pasture, but in a garden where you're trying to grow broadleaf plants it can really make things tough. So just make sure that you know where the horses are getting their food.

I have a very pure provider for the horse manure. The horses get pasture all season , which this year is still growing great, and in winter they get organic hay. The provider uses nothing but cow manure on his fields.

 

[Rod-T]

Has anyone tried taters on a dirt mound? In theory, if the hill was 3-4 feet tall and you planted around the edge of the top, wouldn't the "harvest" be easier on your back? Sort of like a natural raised bed, there is a garden style that only uses the mounds of dirt for ease of harvesting.

If you stack some old car tires up..fill with good soil. .plant potatoes in it.. when you go to harvest pull tires apart.. harvest tire at a time.. No digging required

 

[rancher hicks]

If you stack some old car tires up..fill with good soil. .plant potatoes in it.. when you go to harvest pull tires apart.. harvest tire at a time.. No digging required

We were discussing this because some varieties of taters don't grow in tiers or up. However I've been reading up in it and some show planting them in layers so the plants grow out the sides.

What variety of taters do you plant in your tires?

 

[Rod-T]

We were discussing this because some varieties of taters don't grow in tiers or up.  However I've been reading up in it and some show planting them in layers so the plants grow out the sides. 

What variety of taters do you plant in your tires?  

They'll grow down right..? So 5 tires high filled with dirt.. should be about 40 inches tall.. likely all the potatoes would be in tires..
I haven't done this yet..my dad has though..he's old he don't like trying to dig for them.

 

[Rod-T]

I don't eat alot potatoes. . But I might try 1 set up this year

 

[rancher hicks]

They'll grow down right..? So 5 tires high filled with dirt.. should be about 40 inches tall.. likely all the potatoes would be in tires..
I haven't done this yet..my dad has though..he's old he don't like trying to dig for them.

I thought you planted them in one tire and then added another as they grew up.

I'm old too, and I can't dig for them. I'll get back to you on what I've read.

 

[Woodsdweller]

Quote: Some of us ummmm.. errrrr... ahhhh... no longer young folk, don't like to dig potatoes. I grow them in 5 gallon buckets filled with soil. Harvest by upending a bucket on a table, extract potatoes, put soil back in bucket to grow something else.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Some of us ummmm.. errrrr... ahhhh... no longer young folk, don't like to dig potatoes. I grow them in 5 gallon buckets filled with soil. Harvest by upending a bucket on a table, extract potatoes, put soil back in bucket to grow something else.

That is a pretty good idea...

 

[KlopKlop]

Some of us ummmm.. errrrr... ahhhh... no longer young folk, don't like to dig potatoes. I grow them in 5 gallon buckets filled with soil. Harvest by upending a bucket on a table, extract potatoes, put soil back in bucket to grow something else.

What kind of yield do you get from one bucket? And when do you plant them? sounds like it would work better than a tower, even though you would probably need many buckets.

 

[Loc20chick]

Quote:
very good idea.