Reskilling Expo Fall 2012

Potato pot ready for harvest

Today will be a second look at gardening in small spaces.  I'll have an emphasis on in between crops and what to grow during the fall and winter. Click on the links to take you to the documents.

What Size Pot?

• A summary of the minimal size pot for a particular type of vegetable. Also there are resources that recommend specific varieties for containers. Renee's Garden lists varieties they sell that work well in containers. Follow this link to see them.

In Between Crops or Catch Crops

• One way of making the most of the in between stages of container gardening. Whether you're waiting for the soil to warm up in order to plant summer crops or the summer crops are winding down and you have spare space to squeeze something in.

Renne's Garden is a great resource for seeds, and I find they work well for gardens in the Santa Cruz and Monterey areas. Below is a link to her When to Plant Guide:
http://www.reneesgarden.com/hm-gardnr/resource/whentoplant.pdf

Good harvest and easy to do!

To see post on growing potatoes in pots see my post Potato Experiment

Pepino Dulce

I'm experimenting with a new plant - Solanum muricatum. I picked it up at the Cabrillo plant sale (along with many others). I transplanted it into the greenhouse on 17 June 2012. A couple of fruit had set, but I felt it wasn't thriving in the cool foggy breezes. 

Plant as it was on June 17th.

 Now it's looking quite lush and the fruit that is in the above picture is now about 1-inch longer. It's also putting out another flush of flowers.

Same fruit on 7 July 2012.

Plant on July 7th.

I was thinking I should call the greenhouse "Nightshade House" as that seems to be it's main purpose. Tomatoes are big (I'm growing German Strawberry) but there are only 2 fruits - and they are both on the same plant, further away from the door in the greenhouse. The fog has been keeping the nights too cold and I'm having blossom drop like crazy.  I guess I won't have to worry about fitting canning into my schedule.

Blueberries

Sunshine Blue

I have been having a boon year for blueberries. Last winter, while the plants were dormant, I dug them out of the half barrels I had them in and changed the potting soil. It was Ed Laivo from Dave Wilson Nursery that drove this change.

I was at a fruit tree talk and the subject of blueberries came up. He commented that they are really easy to grow, not like what some garden magazines would have you believe. I have to concur. My plants are in partial sun, just on the edge of the oak shade that predominates my yard. I grow southern highbush varieties that don't need such long chill hours. I grow Duke and Blue Ray. They do alright, but the ones that really seem to flourish are Reveille, O'Neal, Sharpblue, Misty, Sunshine Blue, and Jubilee.

He also said that they're easier to grow in containers because you can control the soil more easily. He mentioned his "magic mix" to make a fantastically acidic soil for them. That's what caught my attention. So the moment they went dormant, I went to work and changed out most of the potting soil in the half barrels. And in the spring, the change was noticeable. Many more clusters of flowers and lots of vigorous new growth. I have had the luxury of going down every Sunday morning and harvesting a basketful or more. I've had over 5 weeks of harvest. Blueberry pancakes, blueberry corn muffins, and blueberry tarts have been some of this summer's joy.

Potato Experiment

I have been looking lustfully at English potato barrels. They look so nice and I like the idea of slipping up the sides and sneaking a few new potatoes. And I have relatives in England who might be persuaded to buy such pots and ship them to me. But not for the hefty cost of £35 each! (about $70 and I'm not including what it would cost to ship)

My greatest success with potatoes was when I put them in the raised beds. But they were difficult to dig up at harvest time and I've been chasing potatoes in that bed ever since. I'll admit that it's fun to find them when turning the bed in Spring and Fall. But I tend to find them with the fork stuck straight through the center of the spud and then the ones I miss pop up in odd places, like where the garlic is growing now. Strangely enough, I've even found potatoes in the planters on the deck 12 feet above the garden! My only guess is a bird re-planted a spud it had dug up.

So container planting is my preferred method, but I haven't found a pot that reliably produces a big crop. So far all my other "potato tower" and container potatoes have been of limited success. The "potato tower" barely yielded the same weight as the starter potatoes that I put in. Once I had a sizable crop from a container (where the potato sprung up magically). I keep planting that same pot, but it's never produced the same yield.

I've been hoping that an American vendor would show some interest in buying potato pots, and then I would purchase from there - but it hasn't caught on. I did notice Gardeners.com now sell potato grow sacks, but I'm afraid the gophers would make short work of those. But why not look for a pot the same size as the grow bags? I have some "tree size" pots that I now have some potatoes growing in. I believe it is classed as a #15 tree size pot and it measures 15" in diameter and 18" tall. The picture here shows them next to a pile of classic "1 gallon pots".


It's smaller than a wine barrel half, therefore easier to harvest. So I think this might work. I placed 3 starter spuds in each on top of 8-inches of soil. I covered the starts with 3 more inches of soil. And as they grow, I've been adding in more potting soil. And they are growing like gangbusters. I have high hopes for these new "potato pots".

By the way, these were planted near St. Patrick's day - the time when my Granddad used to plant his annual spud crop. However, with the temperate climate here, I'm lucky to be able to plant potatoes 3 different times a year (from my own starts) and if these pots work out, I might try a go at a 4th crop kept in the greenhouse over winter.