Monthly Archives: November 2008

How To Store Potatoes

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Potatoes

  • Avoid washing potatoes before storage. Moisture causes them to rot
  • The location must be:
  1. Cool – Heat will make them sprout
  2. Dark – Light causes them to turn green and poisonous
  3. Dry – Moisture will make them rot
  • Ideas for storage:
  1. Brown paper bag
  2. Cardboard box
  3. In pantyhose separated by knots
  4. Root cellar
  5. As chips in a freezer
  • Storage temperature must be 7-10 deg. C (45-50 deg. F). Freezing temperatures will change the taste and appearance of the potatoes.
  • Remove potatoes that have turned soft, dried up or sprouted
  • Potatoes can be stored for 3 to 6 months

What to Expect When You Grow Vegetables In Your Lawn

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Wireworm

I finally found out what this is, sticking out of the potato above. There’s a better picture of it in this post about potato worms. Apparently this is a classic example of what happens, when you convert your lawn into a vegetable garden. They’re called wireworms and the problem is not limited to potatoes in particular. These worms are larvae that will eventually grow into click beetles. These beetles like to live in the lawn, and normally when in the larvae stage they will eat the roots of grass. When you remove the grass you take away their food and they start looking for other things to eat, for instance potatoes, or carrots or other root crops.
It takes about 4 to 5 years for the larvae to grow into a beetle, so be prepared to turn the soil frequently when the weather is dry and collect them, when you spot them. And choose plants that develop above ground, like beans, peas, squash etc.

The Life of a Raised Bed

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I have previously written a good deal about raised beds made out of raw, untreated wooden planks. I don’t like the idea of building out of pressure-treated wood since I’m not sure if there are any chemicals or salts leaking into the soil. I’ve been using either spruce or pine, I’m not really sure, but I took a picture of the raw planks:

Planks

If you know what sort of wood it is, please let me know in the comments.

The raised beds have been outside in the garden for two years now and are beginning to show signs of decay. It’s not really that bad:

Raised Bed Plank 2

It looks like they could last many more years:

Raised Bed Plank 1

But then I took a look at the backside of one of the planks and found this:

Raised Bed Plank 3

It could be that the wood at this spot has been exposed to soil with higher moisture than elsewhere but then again the soil looks the same to me.

I have planned on building three more raised beds out of this type of wood, but now I think it would be better to find some rectangular concrete tiles and place them upright around the edge of the beds. This would be a little more work but the beds could last for centuries.
Now I just have to think of a new project for the planks I’ve already bought. :-)