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Post by littleminnie on May 23, 2013 20:56:22 GMT -5
I'm so pissed. My sweet potato plants already arrived! I know I told them the very end of May or later. I have the first week of June down to plant them. It is cold here. Almost frost tonight. Yesterday I was in a winter coat, long johns, and waterproof pants. The plants look great but they didn't even send a pack slip or instructions. It is 500 plants.
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 23, 2013 22:51:45 GMT -5
Don't panic, sweet potatoes are easy. Just keep in mind that they are morning glories and they grow like morning glories. Poke them puppies in the dirt, cover with little mulch if cold weather is still in the picture, and don't sweat it.
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Post by littleminnie on May 24, 2013 19:35:19 GMT -5
Our soil is still quite cold here. Lilacs just started to bloom and dandelions are doing their bloom now. That means time to plant potatoes, not sweet potatoes! The company said to put them somewhere warm and into wet potting soil. They said they would keep for one week. The area isn't even plasticed yet.
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Post by Drahkk on May 24, 2013 20:35:01 GMT -5
How many slips are we talking about? Dar warned me last year that they can get stunted and not produce properly if they're exposed to too much cold early on. I'd pot them up and transplant when weather warms. Worst case, I might be able to send you some in a few weeks when mine strengthen up a little more. I've got Vardaman and Poplar Root starting to vine out at the moment. Only one 4'x4' bed, though, so I won't be able to cut too many.
MB
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Post by ilex on May 25, 2013 1:24:55 GMT -5
The most important point with sweet potatoes is to remember they are not potatoes, they are tropical plants. Always store the slips in the warmest place you can find. I usually take out all the leaves and put them in full sun in water until I plant them. They can live that way for months. Of course, you can also pot them and transplant later.
Local pros recommend to always plant them vertical.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 25, 2013 15:45:09 GMT -5
LittleMinnie: Just to show your influence... I found a Killdeer nest yesterday when I was planting corn. (Almost crushed it twice before I saw it.) So I took a photo, then put a ring of rocks around it so that I can avoid it next time. They nest in the garden every year. This is the first year I have found the nest.  |
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Post by littleminnie on May 26, 2013 19:55:26 GMT -5
Huh, where are the other 3 eggs? Were there cracked shells? Because they hatch one per day. maybe it is day 4.
As I said earlier I have 500 slips. It is in the 50s and 60s here but will be 80s this week. Still abnormally cold. The slips are in very watery soil in 2 tubs with row cover over in a warm sheltered spot. Right now they are in the garage for the night. I am still mad they were sent so early and I have to do them before the melons and squash but they are holding up fine so far. I will plant Tuesday. 77 degrees light south winds. That is the best I can do. bad low fronts here lately. I have a transplanter that I bought off the Tatorman website.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 26, 2013 20:37:53 GMT -5
Huh, where are the other 3 eggs? Not yet laid... Or tilled under about a week ago when I tilled most recently? |
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Post by littleminnie on May 26, 2013 21:15:13 GMT -5
It is possible they are starting over again after having lost them. maybe there will be 2 tomorrow. So I think it is safe enough to post a satellite pic of my garden. It was from November last year I think. maps.google.com/maps?q=Big+Lake,+MN&hl=en&ll=45.312014,-93.787274&spn=0.001264,0.003098&sll=46.44186,-93.36129&sspn=9.692208,25.378418&oq=big+lake&hnear=Big+Lake,+Sherburne,+Minnesota&t=h&z=19 I love looking at the area from this perspective. |
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Post by littleminnie on May 26, 2013 21:24:28 GMT -5
Also hub and I are talking about putting in a structure that is half potting shed for my stuff and half greenhouse. We need ideas.
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Post by littleminnie on Jun 4, 2013 20:34:40 GMT -5
The sweet potatoes were planted last Wed and Thurs and it hasn't even been 70 since. I covered them Sunday because it was too windy before that. That also helped me to easily see they were still alive whereas last year a bunch died but they were row covered so I didn't notice. Anyway they are alive, surviving, and should be ok. I planted about 350. It was a PITA. I ended up doing it with my bulb planter. The soil was mud. I planted them super close together because I ended up only being able to do 2 rows not 3 due to poor cultivating. But this should control size hopefully. The eggs hatched Sunday. The third baby is laying newly hatched in the pic. The first 2 were running around. Within an hour #3 was up running with them. God they are cute!!! Fourth egg must have hatched by yesterday.  |
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Post by steev on Jun 4, 2013 21:40:09 GMT -5
It interests me that birds that nest on such level ground lay such long-conical eggs. Mostly this is a characteristic of eggs laid on ledges, so they roll in circles, not off the edge. Beautiful eggs, BTW; my compliments to your birds.
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Post by Walk on Jun 5, 2013 8:06:28 GMT -5
We have killdeers too. In our nest, the "tips" of the eggs all point in to the center and the clutch looks rather flower petaled in shape. They always nest in a gravel parking area at the end of our driveway, near the road, about 500' from our house. We get the whole broken wing act every time we walk out to get the mail.
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Post by littleminnie on Jun 8, 2013 22:24:15 GMT -5
The killdeer family have not left my garden so I get to watch them all the time. So I have been pretty close to running out of drip tape barbs and ends as I have put on the tapes. I ended up with just enough barbs and really close to enough ends so I was happy. Today I went to get all the lines finally attached and flushed and I ran out of drip tape! I had 4 beds left plus I could put another tape on each of the 3 legume beds. So I figured I had to order more tonight. What a pain! But then I found I still had all of the 2011 tape wrapped around a barrel. It has been sitting outside since then and the stuff against the barrel is rusty. It looks like just about enough to finish the four open beds. But I am not sure if it is worth using or not. I used one piece tonight to finish a bed and I left the rest. The 4 beds I didn't do yet are all over in the corner and I can sprinkle them for now until I decide what to do. I took crop photos tonight but they were all foggy looking. I guess it was too late. Here are a few from earlier.  Peas and greens and one garlic bed.  Tomatoes in their red tomato greenhouses. So glad to have these this year!  Strawberries planted last year. |
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Post by littleminnie on Jun 14, 2013 19:28:11 GMT -5
OK my tomatoes are this size now.   Potatoes are the healthiest I have ever seen and no bugs!   Volunteer spinach is huge like chard! |
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