Straw Potatoes

Following planting some potatoes in boxes with some straw, I have decided to try just dropping them on dirt and then covering only in straw.  I put this link in my last post, but can't hurt to have it up again Straw Potatoes as a reference.  The potatoes going down will be river john blue potatoes that I have cut into little pieces.

 

This is a picture of the furrow that they are going to be planted in.

 

This is the potatoes after I have planted them; they are approx. 1 foot apart.

 

This is them covered up in straw.  I only used 2 recycling bins of straw, but will continue to add more as they grow.

This is my barrel of straw.  I scavenged some of it in the fall from down the road after the wheat field had been cut and baled and then more this spring after the giant bales were loaded up and taken away.  Now although I guess this is technically stealing, I was picking up straw that was lying on the ground and the remainder has subsequently been plowed under, so it wasn’t really of any use to anybody, except me.

 

Originally I picked up all the straw to mulch my asparagus in the fall to help keep the crowns safe from the winter thaws and freezes and to keep the weeds down.  Unfortunately while it might have protected it, it also made a nice little nest for the Voles…  They had runs all underneath it as well as the top inch of soil.  This also meant that a couple asparagus crowns that were close to the surface became snacks for the little buggers. Needless to say I will not be repeating it.  The current straw it going to be pulled up in about a month after all the asparagus has gone to seed and a couple inches of manure added as mulch instead.

I was also planning on using some of the stuff I got this spring to mulch garlic in the winter.  But if the voles liked asparagus I am willing to bet they like garlic too.  So now I am using some on potatoes and if I can find more places to plant I will keep using it.

This is a picture of the asparagus seesd I planted a few weeks ago.  They are destined to either be sold/planted in my grandmother’s garden or I might save some to go to the seed exchange put on by the community garden next spring.