***I posted two posts this evening so please check below***
This afternoon I hilled my potato bin & potato pot. The bin involved getting my saw out and cutting down some boards. All miter cuts except one due to my irregular shaped bin. I think I am going to start calling this bin my Potato Condo, how does that sound? For the boards that will be removable for harvest I am use number 8 screws with a hex head. With these screws I can use a socket on my cordless drill to install as well as remove the boards. These fasteners should last much longer then your average coated deck screw.
This is the soil I am using for my potato condo. It is the left over soil from the 5 large pots that I grew tomatoes in last year. In addition to the pot mix which is about 60% potting soil & 40% compost I am adding copious amounts of bagged compost as well.
To fill the potato condo I very gently hold the leaves up and lightly fill around the plants with my potting soil scope. I have been hilling the condo every time the plants grow about 4"-5" high and I make sure to leave a good inch of foliage above the soil. This and further instructions can be found on Sinfonian's Square Foot Garden.
Here it is all filled up. I think I will let them grow above the second board before filling again. They could probably use the added photosynthesis.
Here is the potato pot fully hilled. These were planted about 3" above the bottom of the pot and now have over 10" of soil on top of that. I will now just apply water & organic fertilizer until they are harvested.
To end this post here is today's harvest. We have a 14oz head of oak leaf lettuce, a 3oz head of red lettuce, a 4oz kohlrabi and 2oz of fresh garlic. The kohlrabi split from all the rain we had during last nights thunderstorm so it went into today's dinner salad. The garlic made it into crock pot brisket and it is the last of the thinning that is needed in the garlic section. I think I will plant my garlic close together again next year because it is really nice to have fresh garlic on hand when ever it is needed.
.jpg)
