Tuesday 17 March 2009

St Paddy Power ~ 1

Oh my goodness, we worked so hard on St. Patrick's Day and honestly... I felt good. Let's pause for a moment there - I felt GOOD!!

As Irish tradition dictates Andrew and I planted our Main Crop potatoes on that most glorious of days. We had been chitting our Maris Pipers since February, just on the dining room window sill, which doesn't get direct sunlight and they looked really rather good. Last year's seed spuds were a last minute purchase from a supermarket and were, well, not looking so great but we were excited about our 1st thing to plant in the new Lottie - look back with me, this is May 2008.



We had a tarpaulin over the raised bed to try and help it dry out, coincidentally it was green. Under there was the best soil, lots of cow poo and seaweed had been put in there over the autumn/winter and it really did the trick. We planted them like this... just using a trowel instead of making the ridges like we did last year. Yes, there are too many in the bed, going by the books but we like to plonk things in and give it a go sometimes - we may get lots of tiny ones but we are greedy and like to use all the space we have.



It all took a matter of minutes and felt so good. We had a good few left over and gave them away, which also felt good - nothing like sharing the wealth my Lottie friends.



Also, I did a 'Focus on....Potatoes' back in November here, if you want to refresh your knowledge on this humble, versatile food stuff. And another wee write up last month here.

3 comments:

  1. Glad you had such a great day and holdonto that GREAT feeling intimesof crisi. Or go and DO something that does make you feel good - like gardening:) Is there any reason why you can't do some chores on the lottiewhilst Andrew is at work?It might help:)

    I'm confused about planting the spuds in a raised bed though - don't they hae to be in a deep bed. I'm confused.....

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  2. Oh, I am aiming to one day get to the lottie on my own. Need to get the 5 mins walks around my block under my belt first!!

    The beds are raised but also double dug at ground level. Plus as they grow we heap up mulch and soil round the plants. They have loads of root space, don't worry. x

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  3. Aaarhg! I must crack on and get ours in next week. I have a big grin on my face just sitting here looking at yours! :D

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