Sufferin Succotash

Sufferin Succotash is the catch phrase popularized by Sylvester the Cat in the Looney Tunes cartoon series. You didn't know you were going to get a little depression era pop culture in this post.

Succotash on the other hand is a dish made from a mixture of corn, beans and other vegetables.

I use the phrase to describe a new technique for soil building that I have been trying.

 Here is this years version....

Thinking Differently - As easy as 1, 2, 3

Farmers can often circumvent the conventional wisdom and improve their bottom line by just thinking differently.

Let's look at some examples...

Plants That Do Well Together in Pots

There are a number of combinations of garden plants that do well together in pots. Here are 10 combinations:

1. Sunflower, squash and peas. Similar to the three sisters that were planted by the native Americas when the Europeans first settled in America.
2. Two peppers do well in pots. They also do well planted together in the garden.
3. Combinations of herbs, such as Basil, Rosemary and Thyme.
4. Edible flowers such as pansies work well with shorter herbs.

How to Grow Peas, The Emralds of Spring

Spring is the purview of the delicious Pea. There are snow peas, snap peas and shell peas. This post is about how to plant and grow the "Emeralds of Spring".

How To Get the Absolute Earliest Salad Greens of the Season

Getting the earliest salad greens of the season starts the fall of the year before. You need to prepare the bed where you want to plant the greens the fall before. If it is a raised bed covered with two or three inches of compost it will drain well and warm up quickly once the snow melts.

We try to plant the day the frost goes out or the day the snow melts off. The seed won't germinate until the conditions are right so don't worry if it seems too cold or wet. When the soil conditions are favorable the seeds will germinate and take care of themselves. They are basically on auto pilot at that point and know what to do. If you were to plant these same seeds the fall before the seeds would likely rot or have very poor germination. But planting them in the spring works every time.

I have done this for years and it works great.

On the rare occasion that the season warms up and then turns very cold again you might loose some of the baby plants if  the temps fall below 20 degrees. Planting this early is a bit of a roll of the dice but about 80-90 percent of the time it, this approach is a real winner. If you do get frozen out, just replant quickly. The seed lost is typically only a few pennies worth.

The types of plants that this works for are all frost hardy. Spinach, lettuce, radishes, cilantro, beets, and peas.

Good luck and have fun.

How To Plant Potatoes - Time to Plant

Potato planting time is fast approaching in the frozen Minnesota tundra. I bought my seed potatoes this week from the Pine Island Coop. I bought two bags of Dark Red Norland and two bags of Yukon Gold. I could get some snazzy varieties through the Internet and the mail, but I like to do business locally as much as I can.

These two old standbys are great for baby potatoes and are exceptionally early. Approximately 60 days.

We cut the potatoes into pieces with two eyes each. One becomes the dominant eye and the other is just a back-up in case the primary gets damaged. I usually let them cure a day or two at room temperature. I also dust them with microrizofungi to prevent rot and inoculate the risosphere with friendly bacteria and fungi. You don't have to do this for success, I just have some so I use it. A little compost in the trench would accomplish the same thing.

You typically plant potatoes a couple of feet apart but we crowd our plants to 6-8" so that the potatoes are a little smaller on average. We also pick them early or they will still grow to full sized. One 50 lb bag of potatoes will plant about 300 feet of row if you plant this way.

We plant the first planting when the ground is thawed and easily worked. Do not work the ground to wet or it will just get hard and cloddy. We wait until the first planting is about 2-3 inches tall and then plant a succession crop. The last succession planting is around June 1-15. The will provide a steady supply of baby potatoes most of the summer. Don't forget to plant peas at the same time.

We apply lots of compost around the potatoes, they like that and so do the earth worms.

Start looking for potatoes when the blossoms start to open up. Dig a few plants and wait a few days if they are not big enough. We always plant a few extra in the first planting and burn through allot of plants to get extra for the early market. We always sell extra at that time of the year. Peas and potatoes baby!

I'll blog later about what to do about the potato beatles.