Comments on: 10 Jobs for December

By: Kath In Oregon

Kath In Oregon — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:40:42 +0000

Hey Hannan,

I’m late on the scene here but I’m a potato fan too. I read in a potato farmer publication that the best bet for seed potatoes is WHOLE potatoes (as in, don’t cut them in pieces). There’s supposed to be some hormone found only in the top ‘eye’ that makes entire potatoes grow more vigorously than pieces.

I buy ‘fingerling’ potatoes in the store and plant the smallest ones in the bag (and eat the bigger ones…yum). I read that some sellers spray their potatoes to stop them sprouting but I must have been lucky as I never had any problem growing store-bought potatoes.

If I do buy seed potatoes from the store, I always pick out the smallest ones!

Are there any other fingerling-fans out there?

By: Wayne Stratz

Wayne Stratz — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:53:46 +0000

the windchill is below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, so I go with Weeping Sore’s advice. And I have two weeks off from teaching horticulture to do it.

By: Weeping Sore

Weeping Sore — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:58:48 +0000

Yeah, I’ve got another task for December: sit back and take it easy in front of a cozy fire, reading seed catalogs and dreaming of gardening next Spring ;)
And cook all that lovely garden produce you carefully harvested and preserved.
And do holiday things like drink egg nog, wrap presents, and decorate.
And enjoy!

By: TNP

TNP — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:47:02 +0000

I’m new to this blog, but I have a feeling I’ll be a frequent visitor if my plans to garden this year go well.

I have a question. We live in East Tennessee and everywhere I look I see that people have plowed their plots already. Why is that? Why is it that people do this so early in the season? A landscaper told me it was to overturn the roots of whatever weeds might be lying dormant in order to allow the freeze to kill off the seeds.

By: mtp

mtp — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:28:04 +0000

Wow – chitting potatoes already in Pakistan! That’s exciting.
In answer to your question I would suggest that you buy seed potatoes from your local garden centre or online rather than use the potatoes you can buy from the grocer.

The potatoes you buy from seed merchants are guaranteed to be virus free (most have been heat treated). This means no nasty surprises halfway through the season when your crop fails from Blight or another disease. Using virus-free also protects others who are growing potatoes near you.

By: Hannan

Hannan — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:06:13 +0000

I’m using egg containers to chit some 40 potatoes that I intend to plant in old rubber tyres this year, I’m wondering what difference would it make with my own potato seeds instead of the ones from the garden center; it’s already late in Pakistan for potato plantation cos temperature will be rising in the first week of march here which proves to be bad for the growth of potatoes.