Opel... Sounds like your a true gardener?
Starting plants in winter is something I've never done but I've known other people with hot boxes outside , window starting kits or actual grow light systems in their basements...
I love to garden, great exercise too...weeding is a real pain in the ass....I'm never around my cabin enough to have a great garden up there...rabbits, deer, bears eat or dig it up all the time...I have it on a sloped piece of ground that gets natural watering by gravity... sometime s it's too wet...
WHAT DOES GROW GREAT IS MY HERB GARDEN AND they winter over seasons sometimes...I had a thyme plant that was 7 yrs old and was totally outside every winter...
Just out of curiosity? Do you lay down plastic or hay between planted rows?
Do you have an irrigation system?
I want to try growing potatoes in ROTTED HAY piled on top of the ground, it looks easy...some books by an old lady about growing all kinds of stuff in rotted hay above ground.
Mr. Jones wrote:
I love gardening!
I start all my peppers indoors with great success... also like to start lettuce inside but it can get tricky in the warm environment... I also use raised beds so no rows necessary...
as for irrigation, I have small backyard ponds that I either bucket or pump water out of and put into the raised beds while replacing the the pond water with hose water... water is still cheap in these parts for the moment...
to avoid weeds:
gather leaves that fall from trees in trash bags... use a shop vac if you want...
when you plant your spring crops, use the leaves to smother any potential weed growing areas...
this will increase insect activity but you can counteract that with small containers (i use red solo cups) with about 2 inches of old vegetable oil and a a generous dallop of soy sauce...
bugs go in to drink the soy sauce and drown in the oil... throw the containers away and replace bi-weekly or as needed...
I love growing potatoes and have used a variety of methods... I would highly recommend you use the burlap sack method...
get a big burlap sack - like a big coffee bean sack... roll the sides almost all the way down... add 4 inches of soil, put 2 seed potatoes on the soil, cover with another few inches of soil...
(The "soil" used can vary greatly... straw or hay can be used but you would want it to be clean and new - not old or used... potatoes are very susceptible to disease...)
when the plants grow to 6 inches or so, roll the sides of the bag up slightly and cover the plants with more soil - making sure the leave the crowns uncovered or they'll die...
repeat that process one to two times during the growing season... don't over do it or the plants will concentrate all their energy on regrowing leaves instead of potatoes...
once that sack is full to the top - or the potato plants reach their maximum life span and begin to die - Don't do anything!
Let the plant die completely... this gives the potato skins time to roughen up a little bit... a "new" potato has skin that can be rubbed away with your fingers...
after the proper amount of time has passed, cut the burlap sack down the side (or dump it out if you plan to reuse) and enjoy your many, many potatoes...
