If I am the Doctor, Charlotte potatoes are my Daleks

[andygates]

Years ago I tried growing some Charlotte salad spuds in roll-up plastic sacks.  It's one of those space-saver permaculture crops-in-your-yard things.  They grew, but then died off: eaten by slugs who lived along the sack insides.

The next spring, I emptied out the sacks and lo!  There were some potatoes after all - sprouting ones.  I planted them up.  The same thing happened again.

Last year, I emptied out the sacks and lo!  Once more with the potatoes.  They come back every series.  I duly planted the happy-looking ones out in my new raised bed, and they went great guns... until I went on holiday as it rained and they got blight and died. 

Today, I was clearing the raised bed for a second round of square-foot growing (lessons learned: one plant per square foot except silly things like radishes; everything gets freaking huge; also put the sprawling plants on the far edge where they can just scare the schoolkids).  What were those weird weeds?  Lo, verily and behold: they're sprouting potatoes.  The bastards just won't die.  So once again they have pride of place, and once again I vow to look after them right up until I forget and they die. 

With luck, they'll die a glorious death on my plate this time around.

Comments

[fialta.livejournal.com]

cool, I planted some stuff this year as, you saw the blackcurrant? I did strawberries and really hope they survive and give me some berries :-))

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Watch out for those slugs!

[ladyjulian.livejournal.com]

I've got chemical on their sluggy ass. It does mean I can't feed the slugs to the chickens, but never mind.

Potatoes are unkillable. I planted ONE SPUD in my parents' garden when I was about twelve, just to see what would happen. They still occasionally find one of its descendants.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Likewise with the little blue pellets of DETH.

So it's not my skills at gardening-through-neglect that did it? I mean, I can kill spider plants and ivy, and the aspidistra even looks peaky from time to time...

[ladyjulian.livejournal.com]

Your neglectful gardening skills probably helped. Overanxious gardening can kill potatoes (you can drown them through overwatering, happarently.)

[teahisme.livejournal.com]

When they die you should dig them up. You will likely still have some left over to sprout again the next year. They use a bunch of nitrogen iirc. I think you are supposed to rotate them with beans because beans fix nitrogen in the soil or maybe I have that backwards. Also peppers and tomatos like to be near each other. Try not to put two squash types near each other or you'll get a baby squash of a third variety.

Other ways to kill slugs... put a board in the garden lift it every morning and crush or salt the buggers. Salt carefully of course. Another one is to use a small pie dish type container and pour beer in it. The stupid buggers are attracted to it. They go for a swim in the beer and die. Alcohol poisoning may not be the nicest way to go, but then again crushing or salting can't be pleasant either.

Enjoy your garden. I find mange tout and peas seem to grow well in the British climate. I've not really had luck with other food types, excepting potatoes.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Beer traps make me cry.