In the garden.....

It has been a while since I last did a post on the garden. That dosen't mean nothing has been happening.

I've harvested my "rubish bin" potatoes, which was a bit like digging for buried treasure.This would make a fantastic project to do with the kids, and is really easy to do. I've used an old rubish bin, but any tall structure would work. Try a tower of old car tyers.

Any way here is how to grow your own potato crop in a small space.

• Late Winter you will be able to pick up seed potatoes from your local nursery. I've tried a mix of different ones this year including Kipfler, Pink Fir,Royal Blue and Pontiac. This gave a mix of potatoes good for roasting, mashing, and chips.
• Once the risk of frost has passed, you can get ready to plant.
• Cut each potato into sections making sure that you have at least 2 or 3 eyes on each piece. Anyone who has had potoatoes start to shoot in the pantry will see that the eye is where the plant will grow from.
• Add about 20cm of soil to the bottom of the bin. I've used a cheap potting mix, but any normal garden soil will work just as well.
• Scatter the potato pieces on the soil, making sure that you don't crowed the pieces.
• Cover with about  15cm of soil, and lay another layer of potato pieces. Keep going.
• Cover the last layer with about 30cm of soil.
• As the plants grow about 10cm above the soil, cover with another 30cm of soil.
• Keep repeating until you get to the top of the bin. It is important to keep covering the plant as it grows. It will continue to put out roots if it is covered, and set new potatoes on the roots up its length.
• I had planned to keep adding straw layers up the wire tower, but the plant grew too qucikly before I had the chance.
• It is important to keep the soil moist but not wet, or the seed potato will rot.
• Towards the end of Summer / early Autumn the potato plant will go brown and die off.

• It is then time to harvest the potatoes by digging them up.

I've kept the soil and will dig it into the veggie patch when I prepare it for the winter crops.

It really is good fun to get your hands dirty and find the buried treasure. Just look at what I have uncovered.

There has been other things going on in the garden too.

The rain as bought the end of the Beans, and caused the Tomatoes to split.

The Dahlia are in fantastic bloom.

The Japanese Wind Flowers have taken over the bed, and add fantastic movement to the bed.

The Gazania continue to give wonderful colour day after day.

The pumkins have gone crazy and had taken off down the hill, so have been trimmed back so we can get into the wood shed!