Zucchini, potatoes, and New Zealand Spinach

Zucchini: Just curious to know what others have experienced with getting this to grow on a trellis. Somewhere on the SFG web site I think Mel wrote 2 squares should suffice if you can train it on a trellis, or 9 squares if not.

Potatoes: The planting time in the book refers to soil temperature. I have no clue. Anyone have a suggestion for when to plant in zone 5?

NZ Spinach: shade or sun? From what I understand this is not a true spinach, however the instructions on the seed packet are for generic 'spinach' and don't reference sun/shade.

Thanks!

Can only help with spuds...

If you can get a trowel in, plant 'em, they grow like weeds.

boffer wrote:Can only help with spuds...

If you can get a trowel in, plant 'em, they grow like weeds.

Sorry for failing to research, boffer. But, does depth matter? I mean the depth at which you place the spud. Just cover it up, or drop her down a couple of inches?

I am not doing zukes this year, nor have I in the past. But, I will.

As for spinach, this is my first year. Someone.....my mom.....scared me off in the past by telling me how fast it bolts. But she ain't heard of no SFG, and she ain't got no green thumb like me. Well, it's really the MM, but I'm not tellin'. I'm just gonna feed her a salad and say, TOLD YA LOLZ!

I've grown potatoes.
Plant them 3 weeks before your last frost date when the days are around 45*F and the soil is not wet.
Dig a 10-12" deep trench and place the spuds in the trench, eyes facing upwards, and cover with a few inches of soil.
When they grow about 6" fill in the hole with more soil leaving just the top leaves visible.
Do this a couple of times until your trench is filled in so the spuds will grow deep under ground away from sunlight.

You've never tasted great potatoes til you eat those you've grown yourself. Soooo fresh and tasty.

My first Golden Russets.

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:

boffer wrote:Can only help with spuds...

If you can get a trowel in, plant 'em, they grow like weeds.

Sorry for failing to research, boffer. But, does depth matter? I mean the depth at which you place the spud. Just cover it up, or drop her down a couple of inches?

Spuds get no respect.

Can you imagine Mr. Potato Head, sounding like Rodney Dangerfield, saying: I can't get no repect!? Most people don't realize that the difference in taste between a store bought potato and a home grown potato is as drastic as that of store bought and homegrown tomatoes and corn.

Blindfold yourself; one hand behind your back: Stick the gosh darn things in the ground and they grow. I've learned most about potatoes by the harvest orphans I've left behind each year in the fall. Regardless of how wet, or cold, shallow or deep, covered with plastic or not, the potatoes I left behind are the first things growing in the spring. There's no stopping them!

Plant them a few inches deep. The only important thing is to keep the potatoes covered so they are not exposed to sunlight. If they see much sun, they are like acara, they will turn green! If you eat enough green potatoes, you eventually will get sick. But, you can cut off the green part of the potato and eat the rest with no problems.

boffer wrote:Can only help with spuds...

If you can get a trowel in, plant 'em, they grow like weeds.

lol

Thanks boffer and quiltbea! I actually got a few potatoes last year, but we got such a late start over all with the garden I didn't know how early I could 'stick the gosh darn things in the ground'. *ha* Perhaps we will try a couple soon and then also 'stick' some in about 3 weeks before the last frost and see what happens.

Re NZ spinach :

I haven't actually gown it but seeing as I am from NZ orignally I thought I just had to try it - and it is more heat tollerant thatn regular spinach (I had also never hear of it, and it doens't look like anything I ever grew when I did grow spinach in NZ). My nursery where I got the seeds said full sun is fine, but in the middle of summer if you have a harsh sun, some shade will help it out some.

To help germination, if you soak the seeds in warm water for 24 hours it is supposed to help.

My zucchs never struck up a relationship with their trellis last year, and becuase I was anticipating a trellised zucch I planted 1 per 2sq - it was on the edge of the garden and leaned heavily over the side of the garden,and produced very heavily. This year I am planning on no trellis, but giving the plants a similar amount of space - the squash vine borers limit the length of season for me - perhaps I will regret my spacing if I can actually catch and kill the boogers before they kill my plant - I am getting better and figuring out who the good guys are in the garden

boffer wrote:Blindfold yourself; one hand behind your back: Stick the gosh darn things in the ground and they grow. I've learned most about potatoes by the harvest orphans I've left behind each year in the fall. Regardless of how wet, or cold, shallow or deep, covered with plastic or not, the potatoes I left behind are the first things growing in the spring. There's no stopping them

+1!!!

I have only grown potatoes twice, and the second time was by accident! Orphans came up the year after I intentionally planted potatoes and they were nicer and I got almost as many from the few orphans as I did with my intentionals. I completely ignored them until I was pulling up everything at the end of the season and there were a few spuds attached, so I started digging and found gold - Yukon Gold, that is !

TC

I happened to find this link in another post. Check out the video. Very interesting way to stake zucchini, and it seemed to work for this guy. It's worth a try!

http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/pruning-zucchini/

Last year I grew red and russet potatoes in plastic milk crates. I planted in the last week of May in five inches of MM and continued to backfill as they grew. When the plants grew past the top of the crates I added a circle of hardware cloth lined on the inside with a few sheets of newspaper. I continued until the end of the growing season and disassembled the plants a foot at a time top down. I sifted the growing medium through 1/2" screen to separate the potatoes and returned the MM to the general garden area with added compost. This year I've planted reds and russets in one of the 2X8 raised beds. I've fabricated 16" diameter rings from welded wire fencing and attached weed barrier cloth to the side to hold the growing medium in. Each section is about 14 inches high and I can stack sections atop of each other as the plants stretch to the sky. I have also planned to use compost tea with all my root plants including the potatoes this growing season.

Well Boffer, here's my spuds . . .



We built a special 1'x4' box with 12" boards. My boyfriend asked me if we made the box taller and taller, would the potatoes keep growing too? Indefinitely? I had no idea . . . perhaps a fun project some day . . .

I also found a few orphans - couldn't believe it!

I grew Malibar spinach last year and started with little plants, one red and one green. Only the red one went to seed but both of them grew like gangbusters! I put them in a bed right beside our house on the south west side and it grew up the 6 foot stake then across a string to the backyard fence! The red one grew abundant small leaves on far-reaching vines and the green one grew much more densely and less vine-like, with huge leaves that were wonderful when dried in the oven after being spritzed with a bit of soy sauce. I've been lazy in the garden year so haven't planted any of the dozens of seeds I collected last year.

[quote="boffer"][quote="BackyardBirdGardner"]

boffer wrote:
Blindfold yourself; one hand behind your back: Stick the gosh darn things in the ground and they grow.

Can I quote you?