Meadowlark
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Same here. Most of my new potatoes are "pulled" as opposed to "dug"...makes it nice to harvest.
4 rows of potatoes.
- Thread starter gary350
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Today I raked pine needles off of the driveway there turned out to be more than I expected. I had several baskets full enough pine needles to cover 2 rows of potatoes 3" deep with pine needles. Dark soil will probably heat up more from the sun than brown pine needles but I hope pine needles will prevent soil from washing away we have 3 months of rain coming. I have 4 rows of potatoes this is first time I every had 200 saved seed potatoes from last years crop. I try different experiments every year to learn what works best. Red potatoes always out produce white potatoes 4 to 1.
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Pine needles make a wonderful short-term mulch. My pines (Pinus halepensis and Pinus pinea) drop there needles in late Summer. Its quite serendipitous, as that is when I can most use some extra free mulch to supply added shelter for drought-weary beds. Of course, their presence will help reduce erosion as well.
Meadowlark
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What's your soil ph?
Also, I must add, pine needles do not have any significant effect on soil pH.
6.0 ph
That is TRUE. Green pine needles are a little bit acid but dry pine needles are no different than dry dead grass. Jan to April we get lots of rain almost every day I hope pine needle help prevent potato hills from washing away. Record rain fall last year was 37 inches.
I was clean up and decided to burn a bunch of cardboard boxes that were all pushes down inside each other to save space. I don't want a big fire to get out of control so I burned boxes 1 at a time. Down in the bottom I found 62 seed potatoes they don't look like much but I hate to throw them out so I planted them. Wow this makes 5 rows of potatoes = 260 plants. This is the first time I have planted potatoes in Nov. at the new house this garden usually gets flooded all winter with 2" of water it rains every day. Potatoes planted March 1st then harvested 4 months later in 100° hot weather usually only produce 1 lb of new potatoes per eye. I use to get 2 lbs of new potatoes per eye at the other house when planted Nov 1st. Wait an see last year 1/2 the potato crop rotted last winter we had rain every day garden was underwater for 2 months. This year I hope hills are above the swamp and plants don't rot. If we get 2 lbs new potatoes per eye from the Nov crop that will = 520 lbs new potatoes. If we get 1 lb per eye = 260 lbs new potatoes. If 1/2 the plants rot like last year = 130 lbs new potatoes. Wait an see. If this garden didn't flood Jan to April potatoes would be easier to grow.
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