The Farm Puts on the Green

Walking up the lane these days, one is greeted by the gurgling chatter of Dunn Creek running into the pond. There's at least one pair of black ducks nesting there. Sometimes I'll see a great heron standing in the lane too.


(click to enlarge)
The view from the top of our little peach orchard looking toward our neighbors and the old church. Sorta defines pastoral landscape.
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We'll be plantin' spuds. I hand cut the larger potatoes into halves to get a few more plants .



These are the red potatoes. Now they go in the basement for a few days until the cuts are dried over and more or less sealed. This helps prevent infection of the seed in the ground. Each piece has "eyes" from which stems will sprout. We don't grow a lot of potatoes each year. The market will only support about a dollar a pound even for organics that are un-sprayed and hand tended as ours are. If you've ever dug potatoes by hand you know it doesn't take long to realize that a dollar a pound isn't worth your trouble. But if you harvest for yourself and a few friends - you will taste the difference.

We also have an established bed of chives and I found some leftover parsley seed from last spring. So we'll have new potatoes with butter and herbs and won't they be good!

You can grow potatoes in So.Cal. In fact you could plant them in Feb or March. You'll probably want to use raised beds of improved soil to avoid our heavy clay. Add a bit of sulfur to moderate our "sweet" soil p.h. and you might need to put down some wire to keep the gophers out.

Update at 7:30 PM - If you want to plant and grow ANYTHING organically in SB - go see my friend Matt at Island Seed and Feed in Goleta. He'll help you with everything you need.
And please mention that I suggested you stop by.