Tater-Droppin'

tater-droppin'

Finally pulling clear of a couple of days of just over 102 degree fever, I felt good enough to get out into the garden. Just a couple of tasks this weekend, but overall the progress on this year's garden seems good.

I got my package of Irish King Henry seed potatoes and using the recommendation of Colorado State University, I planted them in hay straw instead of hilling them in compost and dirt. Certainly made the task easy. Why you would do this appears to be really taking the pain of extracting potatoes easier during the season, where - as I learned my first time with potatoes - you can loose more than you want to potatoes being cut by a shovel or digging tool when trying to get them out. The hay makes it easy to grab and go, but still provides cover, aeration and moisture necessary to promote growth. We'll see. Worth a shot. While not an ace at a lot of things in the garden, I have the digging ditches and holes part down and I can fill 'em with equal skill.

Since I had a few more seed potatoes than I needed, I took the neighborly route and set them on the porch with a post to Nextdoor that anyone around could have them. If you and your neighborhood don't use the Nextdoor app, check it out. Actually does a good job at building a community online in a way a lot of social networks don't.

Potatoes done, next was planting beets. Yes, I actually like beets.

beet seeds or granola?

As for the already-planted, the Kale is looking strong and almost ready to thin. The spinach has started its main growth and will also be ready to thin by next weekend. The mesclun looks good and is probably ready for thinning, as well. Nice, since I can use them as microgreens for some early benefit. The onion seeds are also now sprouting, although just starting to push through the ground.

mesclun microgreens... not going to be a huge bowl

Last bit was to drop a couple more ash trees that have popped up that were blocking sun to the garden. Getting rid of those should help a lot for maximizing direct sun this season.

starting to look like a garden