You Win Some, You Lose Some

Does anyone remember my Great Potato Experiment of 2009? Well it was not as successful as the Smartpot claimed it would be.

I ordered these cloth pots from Gardener's Supply this past winter. Their sales pitch sold me and it made sound, logical sense to grow in a container that would do the root pruning for me and yield 10-13 pounds of potatoes per bag. Hah!

My pototes grew beautifully and I was so sure that they were full to capacity in there.  They got so tall I was worried they would fall over before they were supposed to.

The directions say that when the greenery starts to die back they are ready to harvest. So harvest we did.

Doyle dumped the grow pots into the wheel barrow and Maecy and I dug for the potatoes I was so sure were in there. Of course like most teenagers, Maecy wasn't on board with helping but my hubby reminded her that this was just the same as Easter but the eggs were under the dirt. Reluctantly she agreed to be helpful. Sometimes my husband cracks me up. Sometimes, not so much.

I will say that we had plenty of marble sized tubers in there. It was a sad day in potato land for sure. 

We ended up harvesting 27 pounds of Yukon Golds, Red LaSodas, and Red Norlands. Not great but not a total failure. 

Next year we will plan to plant them in the ground. I can hill potatoes the old fashioned way. My lazy man's way out was not what I had hoped. Sometimes my experiments are first rate and a staple for me and sometimes they aren't quite what I had them chalked up to be. This was one of those ones. But oh well, I do live in the Potato State, I can probably find a decent potato if I have to. Better luck next time!

Edging- Idaho Style

Many posts back I asked How on Earth you make a bed look like this one. Not so much the peonies but the edge itself. Clean and neat. I have done everything but this until just recently. Several people commented on how to get this done. Anna from from Flower Garden Girl blog suggested cutting in strait down from the lawn side and angling the cut towards that cut from the bed side. I drew you a picture to illustrate what I think she meant by that. And no, when I say I drew you a picture, I am not being a smart alleck. I really did draw you a picture with the paint program on my computer. Someone really ought to come up with a better program for all my garden drawings, that program is junk. But for today's lesson it will suffice.

The dark black lines indicate the angles of the shovel or edger you use to cut into this area. I did this on several of my beds so far and it works like a dream. It looks nice and clean and I can't wait to see how it holds up and how often I will have to redo it. I also plan to back fill the area a little with my super fine bark mulch just to give it a completed look. I did some research today on edgers themselves. Flowrgirl1 from Live To Garden suggested a tool she found at Kmart several years back. It is a half-moon shaped edger with a T-bar handle that she says works very well. The one she uses is made my Martha Stewart. I also found a huge assortment of them on Amazon and the one I think I will order has a foot shaped top that you step on with your whole foot and not just your toes.Kind of like taking a big step with a built in spine on the sole. It seems less likely I will hurt myself with that kind than the traditional. You can also cut your main edge with a power edger and go back for your second, angled cut with a shovel. I used a shovel for the whole thing. It worked fine. I still have the island bed to do but the rain won't seem to let up long enough to get that done. Maybe tomorrow morning.

This is similar to what I mean by a step-on edger. This one was sold by Gardener's Supply but is no longer available. Don't know why but I like the idea. I will have to go in search of just the right one and let you all know what I find.

This one is an example of a Half-Moon shaped edger. I thing it looks wide enough to do the job without breaking the arch of your foot if your lawn is like mine. Very dense and hard to dig in. This one has a round handle as opposed to a T-bar handle but it ought to work the same way. Funny how garden tools are finally starting to be designed with ergonomics in mind. Took them long enough.

No More Walls of Water, Introducing the AquaDome

I am so excited to say I just ordered 24 of these cool alternative to the flimsy Wall Of Water. Now I am sure the Wall of Water is a great tool for many gardeners, but it did not work well for me. The reasons it failed are named Barrett and Marley. Two funny black labs that thought it was a handy drinking fountain. Not so funny. I have to purchase my tomatoes and peppers every year. I have run tests with tomato plants with a wall and without a wall around it. Where we live, I have to purchase earlier than I should plant for our area, but if I don't the plants won't be available in the closest shopping mecca. Their season starts at least a month to 6 weeks earlier than ours. I usually end up covering my tender young plants at least 3 or 4 times before the absolute last frost happens here. They don't grow even a 1/4 inch when not protected by a water wall insulator. But with one, they grow great. (Except for Barrett and Marley.)

These domes are hard sided, 16" tall and have a two wall system to add water to. I have read that they should be stored out of the sun when not in use as they may become brittle. That won't be a problem for me. They are from a company called Winged Weeder who also has fabulous tools called Winged Weeder or Winged Weeder Jr. sold by Do It Best. The Aqua Dome cannot be purchased from this company but when I called the company, they said you could purchase it through several farm supply places we don't seem to have in Idaho. I spoke to Kirk, who was very helpful.

Let me know if any of you have tried this cool wall before. I can't wait to get them. Now I won't worry nearly as much as I have in past years. I love garden gadgets.