Blue Sky Farm

My blogging posts and photos are part of me . I think of this as a scrapbook of my life. The names have not been changed.. they are real people who have crossed my path along my journey. Some I know intimately, my family and friends. If their names are mentioned it's a sure sign they are special to me and I love them dearly...come along see for yourself, perhaps you know some of them too..

May 29, 2012

Planting what where?

Potatoes under straw
 Today the temperature hit 70 with no rain...in the forecast  and no frost... Warmer days to continue for at least a week so I decided to plant the potatoes. Our soil is not the best but  potatoes seem to thrive. we have amended it with topsoil, straw, and horse manure and compost.  It still appears to have  lots of clay...so  I am trying something new this year with re: the potatoes.  I have read potatoes can be planted in straw... so after  preparing the ground with two 35ft rows one for of Yukon Gold and one Red Pontiac and placing seed potatoes in the shallow trench I covered them with a bit of soil and  then several inches of straw...As the potatoes grow through the straw I will pile on more until the plants are 2 feet tall.. making sure they are not pushing potatoes to be exposed to the sun, as this causes them to turn green and that is not good..
 Next  the rows have been laid out for my beans, peas, broccoli, beets and peas.. Now I know Carrots love tomatoes and those will be planted as soon as there is no threat of frost..( I have 8 heirloom plants in the garage ready to set out) along with started spicy peppers..for salsa and sunflowers for the birds. Today was day one  and I think its going to be a good year..I know I need to pace myself and do a bit each day.. my allergies are  awful this Spring..so tomorrow morning I'll try to get an early start...