Easter was early this year, or so they tell me.
So Monday morning I knew that I had better get our potatoes in. They usually say that Good Friday is when you ought to put in potatoes, but It was so cold I didn’t dare. So at the start of this week we mustered our courage and picked up seed potatoes to go in the ground.
We are trying a little bit different method for our new garden beds this year. Instead of tilling and having to worry about all that grass coming back, we are planting into the ground and then using all kinds of mulch to stop the grass and weeds from growing up. We are told that this will reduce soil compaction, encourage fungal hypha, and reduce the amount of time we have to spend weeding in the garden. Plus, by adding lots of organic matter to our beds we should see increased fertility.
We chose a split between Yukon Gold and some white Kennebecs. We marked out a grid where our rows would go, and planted the pieces right in the ground. I have to admit that it felt kind of funny not having a beautiful bed of black tilled soil to put them into. We marked each spot with a yellow flag, and covered the entire area with straw and cut grass. After the potatoes come up, we will clear an area around each plant so it has room to grow, and heap up the rows to encourage the plants to set tubers.
We also marked out beds for our onions, beets, and carrots.
Even though the sun was shining, the breeze was cold. Still, it felt good to be in the garden again, knowing that all will be lush and green soon.
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