What did you do in the garden today?

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I heard that.. But it doesn’t have to be wood.. straw bales are cheap.. and you can add them to compost pile/garden in the off season..

What bout hay bales?
My straw bale hasn't broken down hardly at all but my hay bale is quite nasty! Lol

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

So I ordered this small scale setup to do in our kitchen underneath the table where there is a 2x2 shelf. Does this look like it will do what I need to get the strength into the seedlings and keep them from starting out so leggy?

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

How many potatoes did you plant in each bag? Did you net a lot more than you planted? I have no room in the ground to plant potatoes so thinking this might be the way to go!

Yep I'm in same boat! I believe my grow bags are 20gl so I'm planning on potatoes in there...just unsure of how many too!

 

[WthrLady]

in 20 gallon grow bags? 5 or 6 potatoes

 

[TJAnonymous]

Straw bales are not cheap in New England either. I bought a bale last year and it was $12 or $13 dollars. I’m afraid of what they cost now.

I remember when straw bales were $3-$4 just recently. They since tripled here too. I use them in the nesting boxes and goat house for bedding. I've actually started being more judicious with the straw bales I buy since they've gotten so expensive. Crazy times...I wonder if things will EVER go back to normal or if this is the new way of life moving foward?

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Not much going on in garden today...very rainy week.

 

[TJAnonymous]

How many potatoes did you plant in each bag? Did you net a lot more than you planted? I have no room in the ground to plant potatoes so thinking this might be the way to go!

I cut my seed potatoes into separate eyes. I put 3-4 eyes in each bag. This year I put my potatoes in tire beds instead of the grow bags. I didn't cut up the potatoes into individual eyes this year.... Using the grow bags for potatoes worked out decently well except for the ONE TIME when I used compost that was not completely ready and it introduced springhoppers into my soil which cleaned out the potatoes. Learning experience there..... I have always been able to collect around a dozen potatoes from each bag of varying sizes at harvest time.

Another idea that I experimented with.... I used some plastic hardware cloth to create a 3 ft tall "basket" and filled it with dead leaves and a small amount of compost. I put seed potatoes in this too....as plants grew up through the leaves, I added more dead leaves on top. This system actually worked WAY better than the grow bags with ONE exception.... Based upon where I was keeping these baskets, the ants got to them and again....pretty much cleaned out the potatoes. But the system itself actually worked really well.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I cut my seed potatoes into separate eyes. I put 3-4 eyes in each bag. This year I put my potatoes in tire beds instead of the grow bags. I didn't cut up the potatoes into individual eyes this year.... Using the grow bags for potatoes worked out decently well except for the ONE TIME when I used compost that was not completely ready and it introduced springhoppers into my soil which cleaned out the potatoes. Learning experience there..... I have always been able to collect around a dozen potatoes from each bag of varying sizes at harvest time.

Another idea that I experimented with.... I used some plastic hardware cloth to create a 3 ft tall "basket" and filled it with dead leaves and a small amount of compost. I put seed potatoes in this too....as plants grew up through the leaves, I added more dead leaves on top. This system actually worked WAY better than the grow bags with ONE exception.... Based upon where I was keeping these baskets, the ants got to them and again....pretty much cleaned out the potatoes. But the system itself actually worked really well.

Good to know...been thinking bout doing the hardware cloth growing thing too. Someone had a chicken tower on byc while back that was similar and seemed really useful!

 

[WthrLady]

I cut my seed potatoes into separate eyes. I put 3-4 eyes in each bag. This year I put my potatoes in tire beds instead of the grow bags. I didn't cut up the potatoes into individual eyes this year.... Using the grow bags for potatoes worked out decently well except for the ONE TIME when I used compost that was not completely ready and it introduced springhoppers into my soil which cleaned out the potatoes. Learning experience there..... I have always been able to collect around a dozen potatoes from each bag of varying sizes at harvest time.

Another idea that I experimented with.... I used some plastic hardware cloth to create a 3 ft tall "basket" and filled it with dead leaves and a small amount of compost. I put seed potatoes in this too....as plants grew up through the leaves, I added more dead leaves on top. This system actually worked WAY better than the grow bags with ONE exception.... Based upon where I was keeping these baskets, the ants got to them and again....pretty much cleaned out the potatoes. But the system itself actually worked really well.

I did that one year with cattle panels. Worked a dream. But since DH and DS are the only potato eaters, I just shoved 5 whole seed potatoes in the hoophouse this year. Nothing fancy, what comes up comes up.
HOWLING 55 mph winds all night slept rocky, woke up to a 911 text from sister 900 miles away. Dad was having a heart attack, off to the hospital, off to another for a heart specialist, triple bypass in the works. Sigh. I'm a jittery mess, but not worried about him, what is, is. But I can't straight up anxious for the morning wake-up, the house shaking with the wind isn't helping, and the furnace guys are coming in half an hour to work on the ductwork all day. Be still my nerves.
I need to update the watering on the starts. The air is so dry this time of year.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I did that one year with cattle panels. Worked a dream. But since DH and DS are the only potato eaters, I just shoved 5 whole seed potatoes in the hoophouse this year. Nothing fancy, what comes up comes up.
HOWLING 55 mph winds all night slept rocky, woke up to a 911 text from sister 900 miles away. Dad was having a heart attack, off to the hospital, off to another for a heart specialist, triple bypass in the works. Sigh. I'm a jittery mess, but not worried about him, what is, is. But I can't straight up anxious for the morning wake-up, the house shaking with the wind isn't helping, and the furnace guys are coming in half an hour to work on the ductwork all day. Be still my nerves.
I need to update the watering on the starts. The air is so dry this time of year.

Oh I'm so sorry! Let us know how he is doing.
Very alarming to be awakened to something like that.