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The third week of June is still a busy time for planting, as it is not too late to plant dahlia tubers, lily and glad bulbs and to start growing tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and zucchini. You can grow short-season crops like carrots, lettuce and beans from seed planted this week but look for healthy transplants of cucumbers, tomatoes and squash at the nursery to give these heat-lovers a head start. Corn can also be planted by seed this week.

Get snippy with your lavender and rose plants once they finish a first flush of blooms and you’ll be rewarded with more flowers in a second flush of blooms.

Is it true that tomatoes should be planted extra deep?

Budding gardeners always bloom with the fertilizer of knowledge. When you add tall tomato plants to a garden bed or pot it helps the plant to build more roots (which makes a stronger plant) if you dig a deep hole or even a long trench and bury the stem of the tomato plant so that at least half the length of the stem is covered with soil. But first remove the leaves from the bottom half of the long stem. When foliage is removed the bump that is left is called the node, and this is where the new roots will sprout. When you dig a trench you can lie the tomato plant sideways into this shallow ditch and curve the top half of the plant upward so it remains above ground. Now here’s a warning: burying plants extra deep will kill most seedlings, perennials, trees and shrubs. Rhodies and azaleas especially hate to have a lot of soil or mulch on top of their fine roots. Tomatoes and potatoes are exceptions to this rule and like to be planted deep.

How often should one turn a compost pile?

Dig in whenever you get the energy or need the exercise. For the fastest conversion of garden garbage into garden gold turn once a week, but laid back gardeners can take a slower route to riches and just let it rot naturally; compost will be ready in three weeks the fast way but it can take up to nine months if you just let it sit. Adding coffee grounds, old compost, grass clippings, sawdust and leaf mold to the pile will help it decompose faster and although egg shells and other slow-to-rot ingredients may take months to break down, the general rule of green thumb is that the smaller the pieces that go into the pile, the quicker they decompose. Turning the pile adds air which speeds up the process. Get rid of your free weights, give up the gym membership and learn how to build biceps the natural way – with a pitchfork in your hands. You and the garden will both grow stronger.

What killed clematis?

Wilt disease look  like great problem for clematis. This fungal infection strikes quickly and there is no cure. But there is hope. Clematis that die from wilt disease have been known to come back from an underground root as long as three years after the funeral. To prevent clematis wilt do not bump or cultivate around the fragile stems of clematis plants. If you damage a stem near ground level the fungi that live in the soil may find an entry into the clematis vine. If you have kids or pets that share the garden protect those skinny clematis necks with a low barrier of twigs or wire fencing that can surround the base of the vines.
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But in fact, you can grow potatoes in little spaces using wood boxes.
There is well-known method of planting your potatoes in layers within a tall box where you’re essentially building a potato growing high rise.

Building the box

First of all, you need for building the box:
* six 2-inches by 6-inch boards eight feet long and eight feet long;
*one 2-inhes by 2-inches board 12 feet long;
*2 ½-inch wood screw(96 of them) (You’d better use pine, cedar or redwood, which will resist rot londer).

To build the box cut the 2-by-2 into four lengths of 33 inches. Cut the 2-by-6 boards into 12 lengths of 12 inches, and 12 lengths of 24 inches.

Per-drill the screw holes in 2-by-6 boards and attach the box bottom row on the 2-by-2s.

Planting potatoes in box

Place over prepared soil and full with soft soil and mulch. You should plant seed potatoes four inches deep in prepared soil.

When the vines are about 12 inches above soil, add another board to box and fill with soil.
Be careful not to cover more then one third of the potato plant.
As the potatoes plant grows and you can fill the new space with mulch or soil adding sides to the box.

Harvest

You can wait for a full harvest or if you’re getting antsy for some garden fresh potatoes you can pop a board off the bottom and steal some of the mature potatoes.

Rather soon after planting, you can start removing the bottom boards from your box and carefully reach in for the new potatoes. Replace the soil and the boards. Next time you need potatoes, remove the second board of box 3and “rob” potato tubers from that level.

Growing potatoes in boxes is a really great solution!

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Less energy will be used to heal the cut surfaces, making more energy available for growth. All cut surfaces should be smooth. Any jagged or torn surfaces will invite seed-piece rot.

Seed of potatoes can be freshly cut and planted into soil.
If the seed potatoes are cut well before planting, place them to store at 50 to 55 degrees F and over 90 percent humidity. This will help the cut surfaces to heal. The healed seed pieces can then be held at low temperatures until planting.

How to plant seed potatoes

You will need 8-10 pounds of seed potatoes for every 100 feet of planted row.
Mark out rows (60cm apart for ‘earlies’ and 75cm apart for main crop varieties) by drawing a straight line with a trowel, marking both ends with a stick
Dig hole 12cm deep for each seed potato, placing the seed potato shoots uppermost and then fill in the hole.
Proceed onwards digging holes (30cm apart for earlies and 40cm apart for main crop) until all seed is planted at the appropriate spacing according to the type.
Generally, soil is hilled or mounded around the plants as they grow. Hills provide room for the tubers to develop, provide added soil drainage, and minimize tuber greening later in the year. It is best to hill around the potato plants within 4 weeks of planting.

If February is reasonably mild it would even be worth trying a few sowings of carrots (the variety Amstel, for examle).
Sow thickly but in very shallow drills with a minimum amount of soil to cover.

If germination is good, severe thinning will be needed, but the extra seeds will allow for the inevitable losses.

Even varieties which are suitable for early sowing will benefit from covering the soil with a cloche a week or so before sowing. Peas in particular will respond to cloche protection and growth will be advanced quite a few weeks. ‘Feltham First’ is the variety to go for.

Like you, the slugs will be eagerly awaiting the first appearance of those early crops so do sprinkle some slug pellets around to allow these vital early plants to reach maturity.

Shallots can be planted if the weather is good. Put them in, 6in (10cm) apart and 12in (30cm) between the tows, leaving the top half protruding from the soil.

When potato tubers arrive or are bought from the local garden centre, sprout these in a light, frost-free situation.

It is possible for an attack of green fly to appear on the tender new shoots so dust these with insecticide as soon as any of the pests appear.

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Planting  potatoes in rows

Traditionally potatoes are planting in rows.
If you decided to plant your potatoes in row then dig a shallow trench about 4 inches wide and 6-8 inches deep. The spacing at which you place the seed pieces will determine the harvested potato size. For most household uses, you will want to plant your potato seeds inches apart in this trench.

If you’dwant to get a quick crop of “baby” potatoes  you can plant the potato seeds 4 inches apart, and begin harvesting them as soon as they reach the desired size.
Put the potato seeds into the trench (cut side down) and then cover them with 3-4 inches of soil.

Do not fill the trench in completely.  Depending on the soil temperature, sourounding conditions and variety the sprouts will begin to emerge in about 2 weeks.
At this time you shoud add another 3-4 inches of soil.

Your crop of potatoes will form between the seed piece and the surface of the soil.

For this reason, when the stems are about 8 inches high, you once again add enough soil to bring the level half way up the stem of the plant.

Another hilling will be needed 2-3 weeks later, at which time you need again add soil half way up the stem of the plant. After these initial hillings, it is only necessary to add an inch or two of soil to the hill each week or so, to ensure there is enough soil above the forming potatoes that they don’t push out of the hill and get exposed to light.

If the new potatoes are exposed to sunlight while they are developing, they will turn green. Remember that this green parts may be toxic!
This hilling process is necessary to create sufficient space for the potatoes to develop large tubers, and an abundant crop.

Don’t get carried away with hilling though. If you cover up too much of the foliage, you may end up reducing your final crop yield.
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Mound way planting of potatoes

The basic procedure for planting potatoes in mounds is the same as for planting in rows. The difference here is that you can grow your crop in a more confined area, or take advantage of an otherwise unused area of the
garden.
Cultivate and loosen the soil where your potato mound will be.

Designate the approximate perimeter of your planting circle (3-4 feet diameter).  Plant 6-8 potato seeds evenly around your circle, and cover with the initial 4 inches of soil. Continue the same procedures as you would for planting  potatoes in rows.

Potatoes grow in three seasons every year. Planting in March means that this crop will be called ‘Earlies’. Main crop potatoes are planted in April.
To prepare the potatoes ready for planting they need to be left to sprout in a dry place, this is called chitting.

Before planting the seed potatoes the ground will need to be prepared. This means digging the soil and mixing it with fertiliser, which will provide the nutrients or food the plant needs to help it grow.

Potatoes are usually grown in rows.  For planting potatoes you need to dig a small trench around 10cm wide and 15-20cm deep, the more space the potatoes have to grow the better.

Put  the potato seeds in the trench – they will need to be about 30cm apart with the sprouts turned up.

Then cover the seeds with around 10cm of soil.  Make sure the potatoes are always full covered or the sun will turn them green.
Once the potato plants have grown to around 20cm high, you  need to add more soil. This will form a hill shape or ridge with the half way point of the plant.

This is to stop the potatoes growing above the level of the ground –
any potatoes which are exposed to sunlight whilst growing, will turn green. The green parts are poisonous!

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Tight of heavy soils lead to production of misshapen tubers that mature more slowly than in lither soil, and harvest is more difficult.
Planting potatoes in wet soils often results in poor emergence, and many times the tubers harvested from these fields do not store well.
Sites that are highly susceptible to erosion should be avoided for growing potatoes because of the tillage required prior to planting and the soil disturbance at harvest.
Cover crops such as rye or wheat often help to protect the soil during the winter. Rye or wheat should be planted at a rate of 100 to 120 pounds per acre by mid-October.

Of seeding of a cover crop is delay beyond mid-October the soil protection from the cover crop will be reduces, but the cover crop will still be the some benefit.

Proper crop rotation can greatly enhance potato quality by helping to reduce disease, insect, and weed problems and can help increase soil organic matter content.
Sites with inherently lower pH are better suited for growing potato than soil with a high pH.

Although potatoes grow well at higher pH, a disease called scab is more likely to cause an infection if the tuber when the pH is above 5.5. Therefore, the pH for growing white potatoes should be held below 5.5 if common scab is a problem.

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