Container potatoes progress

My container potatoes progress.

From the start

A few weeks- a month after planting

Current growth, loving the sun. *Remember potatoes need well drained soil you may need to add extra drain holes to your containers to help reduce risk of rot.

*For more info on how I set this up see previous blogs

Watering hanging baskets with wine bottles

Wine bottle is hidden in the back

Easy solution to keeping your baskets watered during the heat waves. I recycle my wine bottles and stick them in hanging baskets or pots to keep the plants from drying out. I would not recommend for everyday use here in Oregon as they can get over watered when it rains. 

Wine bottle watering

Backyard chickens & ducks

Now that the chickens are big enough we have been letting them roam in the backyard. Our two big dogs have gotten used to them and we have minimal issues with having them all out together. Here are some pics of our flock. Looking forward to next month as we should be expecting our first eggs in June.

Duckie is the white pekin duck, she is the flock mother she even lets the dogs know who's boss. Duckie is a bit confused though, as she thinks she is a rooster. In the early morning (5am) Duckie has been waiting at the steps leading into the chicken coop and quack-a-doodle-doing at her chicken friends to wake up!  Since the two ducks sleep in a dog house in the same pen, we have placed a piece of plywood in front of the door to the dog house and lock the ducks in at night, This has been very effective at fooling them to believe that it is darker out and she has not quack-a-doodle-doo'd except every once in a while. The chickens, however are smaller and have been found squeezing into the dog house to snuggle with Duckie and Sweedie (the black duck) in the am. They are a riot!

The gardens progress & Updates

Container potatoes doing well ! 

Grapes finally coming back to life. It looks like this will be the first year of grape production after a patient 2 year wait. 

Chives loving the spring weather

Free local gardening classes !

I attended the 'Starting your vegetable garden' class this am from OSU Master Gardeners at the Oregon City Farmers Market and it was a great learning experience and great place to get tips and questions answered. 

Here's the schedule for classes to attend if your interested. All classes are from 10am-10:30 at the OSU tent.

May 19th  Growing tomatoes

May 26th  Growing blueberries

June 2 Growing edibles in containers

June 9th Growing vegetables year round

June 16th Edible landscaping

June 23rd Pruning trees and shrubs

June 30th Raised bed gardening

July 7th Fruit tree pruning

July 14th Sheet mulching

July 21st Making four-seasoned containers 

** ALSO !!** The OSU Master Food Preservers will be at the market May 19th, June 9th, July 14th, Aug 11th and Sept 8th. Learn how to can and preserve your own veggies and fruits from your garden ! Visit http://extension.oregonstate.edu/clackamas/ for more information.

Container Potatoes

How to start container potatoes... 

I do not have enough room in the garden to put potatoes in the ground so were getting creative ! Here's how I've done it. 

1. Start with some seed potatoes. I picked mine up from my local Wilco farm store. 

 

2. Bring your potatoes in and separate them out. You can plant the little ones, about the size of an egg, as they are, but the bigger ones you'll need to cut. 

 

3. Cut the larger ones separating the eyes (growing starts on potatoes) so that each piece has an eye. You'll plant them eyes up. 

 4. The perfect size is aprox. the size of an egg. See below for comparison. 

 5. Now you'll need a container to put them in. I used a plastic container from good will and drilled holes in it for drainage. 

 6. The soil: I filled my container 1/4 of the way full with the 4 way potting soil mix and some bark dust recycled from the chicken coop with the chickens fertilizer and left over saw dust from wood projects.  The potatoes do not like wet compact soil. So you may need to add more drainage holes in the container if it is not draining well. I have kept mine in the garage to get them started off well and will be soon bringing them outside.