Potatoes and Peas are in

The garden section planting began yesterday.  This is the area we recently cleared and the pigs grazed on last year.  They did a good job cleaning up invasive plants.  Tilling was very smooth and the bedding and manure from the animals left a rich soil behind. Potatoes, Peas and early crops are going in this spot.

Last week we finished burning the brush from the two large pine trees that were overhanging this spot and the Russian olives that had overtaken the area.  The coals and ash were spread out before tilling, which should be a beneficial additive to for the potatoes.

The Potatoes were the first priority to get in the ground.  They've been greening up for about three weeks to break dormancy and stimulate the growth of sprouts before they go in the ground.  The varieties we're planting this year are:

• Kennebec
• Yukon Gold
• Irish Cobbler
• Adirondack Red
• Adirondack Blue
• Red Pontiac

Two 50' rows of Wando Peas  went in to the right of the potatoes.  It's very tempting to companion plant in between the potato rows, but last year the dense planting strategy ended up being very difficult to maintain and we're going to keep things spread out and mulched this year.

38 Pounds of Seed Potatoesaa

We're starting this next stretch under row cover with six foot metal hoops for frost and pest protection.  The furrower attachment on the tiller was used to clear the trench for the hoops and spread out the dirt for laying on the fabric to secure it.  A variety of early vegetables will go in this spot.