Gentle Gardens

Planting Potatoes…Dad, in a warmer zone, planted potatoes on Good Friday.  And we would have little potatoes and creamed peas just before the sweet corn…and then lots of sweet corn and radishes and – and –  and.  I miss those days of good vegetables; now I only grow trees, shrubs, and perennials. Our yard is mostly shade; that means a great crop of Hosta. Smile.

This year, just to have some fun, I planted potatoes in between the rose plants.  I didn’t get them in very early so they are just beginning to bloom.  It is rather interesting, however; that even though the grape vines are being ravaged by the Asian Ladybugs…my roses haven’t experienced one bug …I am hoping that is because of the potatoes…anyone have any ideas? We haven’t sprayed the grapes…we like to keep the garden pure for the birds…so I am picking off the ladybugs and drowning them in soap water…works very well.

Potatoes are starchy tubers that grow under ground, getting larger as the top half of the plant matures.  They need lots of water, sunshine and normal soil.  They do have several pests that love them…keep checking the leaves for beetles & aphids as they will defoliate them. Buy certified disease-free seed potatoes…planting potatoes from the grocery store is a gamble as they have been treated so they won’t  sprout. The seed potato really isn’t a seed, it is a potato that has eyes…that’s where the sprouts are.

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