Taters Are In

It's only a month later than normal, but my potatoes are in.  Usually in this area, people try to plant their potatoes around St. Patrick's Day.  This year, it was much wetter and colder than normal.  I got several varieties this year, and I'm excited to see how they do. 

I planted 3 rows in the garden.  The row closest to the driveway is Adirondack Blue, the middle row is Norland, and the row on the left is Pontiac Red (writing this down for my records).  I dug trenches and then filled them in with compost. I'll fill in more as the plants grow.  I planted the potatoes slightly close together, because I'm always worried not all of them will sprout. 

Compost in the trenches...

I had a helper gardening with me.  Actually, she's a hindrance.  The chickens get in the garden and scratch all my mulch everywhere and make a mess of things. 

I didn't really want to use up more space in the garden, so I decided to try out growing potatoes in a tower.  I used tomato cages I already had, since I plan on staking my tomatoes.  

I added a 6" layer of compost to the bottom, then started lining the sides of the cage with straw, so it'll keep the compost contained. Then I put in a few seed potatoes, and then piled on about 6 or 8" of compost.  I will add more compost and straw as the plants grow. Hopefully I added enough to the very bottom...

I planted 2 cages of Yukon Gold, and 1 cage of Superior (next to the driveway). 

Today I went out in the garden and planted peas, kale, and spinach.  Now I should have a while before it's warm enough to plant my favorite stuff....green beans, squash, and tomatoes.  I'm going to focus on mulching and keeping weeds down.