Tuesday 7 August 2012

Potatoes

This year, I accidentally ordered double the number of potatoes we intended to grow. Not a disaster but it meant that we ended up growing potatoes in potato bags, compost bags, old dustbins and even the ground! 

Most of the bags used compost made in our compost bins from kitchen scraps, grass clippings and weeds. Due to my over-order, we did have to buy some extra compost. It will be interesting to see how the yields compare. 

Probably due to the rain, we have had a battle with slugs and whilst this crop is organic, I'm about ready to throw in the trowel and buy slug pellets next year. This autumn, I need to research pellets that won't harm children, birds, hedgehogs and frogs-all of which appear in our garden. The slugs had a bit of a field day with our potato leaves even with regular removal of many, many slugs. Suggestions on the slug battle are gratefully received.

Today was the great day for emptying the first potato bags. I think that it is worth growing even a few potatoes so children can have the excitement of seeing them appear from the ground.


There were a fair few worms too!

The first bag was of white potatoes and a fairly poor harvest perhaps because this bag had the most slug attacked leaves. The second bag was of reds and had a much richer content. Both the bags contained home made compost.


Fresh potatoes taste so much better than shop brought. I'm hoping that we have a good yield from the other bags. The family seem to eat more though so they won't necessarily last long.

Next year, I need to have more ground properly prepared and to work on the slug problem. 

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