Thursday, June 19, 2014

Hilling Potatoes with Straw

This year we decided to hill our potatoes with straw. It's a lot less work and we've read some great success stories with this method. Our hopes are high!


The potatoes are almost in full flower now. With the awesome rain last night and today our plants should set some great tubers.




Growing our own potatoes is super important to us since A - they are yummy and B - they are one of the worst conventionally grown crops for our health. Here's the scoop:

"The problem: Root vegetables absorb herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides that wind up in soil. In the case of potatoes–the nation’s most popular vegetable–they’re treated with fungicides during the growing season, then sprayed with herbicides to kill off the fibrous vines before harvesting. After they’re dug up, the potatoes are treated yet again to prevent them from sprouting. The farm director of the Rodale Institute said, “I’ve talked with potato growers who say point-blank they would never eat the potatoes they sell. They have separate plots where they grow potatoes for themselves without all the chemicals.”

4 comments:

  1. My potatoes are blooming too. I notice you use a lot of straw. Around here it would just be a good home for slugs. I guess they aren't as much of a problem there?

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    1. I wish! We have slugs everywhere and with the adequate moisture this year, they are driving us nuts! This is really the first year here we've had a problem with them. We had them horrid at a place we rented a long while back where we used no straw. I think either they are bad or they are not! We encourage their predators though and rely on their help!!

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  2. OMG I had a potato last night IVE never been able to get any to make..the tops grow but nothing underneath maybe Ill try your straw method...how exactly do you do it...

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    1. Hey! We just piled the straw in thick and high. I piled it about halfway then watered it so the straw would settle, added more straw and watered it again. We've never done this before so our fingers are crossed!!!!

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