The Great Potato Bin Experiment to Defeat Voles!
[photo caption: “Da bin” so far]
When I lived in Indiana, I had great fun growing potatoes. I planted yellow and purple varieties and was rewarded with “buried beauties” when I dug them up. I found the taste of freshly dug potatoes to be superior to ones I bought in the store. In addition, you cannot get true “new” potatoes at the grocery- new potatoes are ones with such a thin skin that it easily rubs off, and they are not good shippers (new potatoes are not just little potatoes).
In Virginia (where the state motto should be “Land of the Voles”) I have trouble growing root crops. Voles ate my sweet potatoes-I had beautiful vines, but when I dug them, all I found were sweet potato shells, the voles having eaten them from beneath- and I think they would eat white potatoes too. Hence, the Great Potato Bin Experiment.
I first covered the top if the soil with small-gauge garden cloth (garden fencing with small squares). I anchored it down, and I built a garden cloth bin around it. If it ever stops raining, I intend to fill the bin with soil, compost and peat moss, having first covered the sides with used landscape fabric to hold in the soil…and plant seed potatoes in it! Voila!
I will be taking next week off from blogging (except maybe a brief report or some photos) to celebrate my 50th birthday with several friends!
[photo caption: “Da bin” so far]
When I lived in Indiana, I had great fun growing potatoes. I planted yellow and purple varieties and was rewarded with “buried beauties” when I dug them up. I found the taste of freshly dug potatoes to be superior to ones I bought in the store. In addition, you cannot get true “new” potatoes at the grocery- new potatoes are ones with such a thin skin that it easily rubs off, and they are not good shippers (new potatoes are not just little potatoes).
In Virginia (where the state motto should be “Land of the Voles”) I have trouble growing root crops. Voles ate my sweet potatoes-I had beautiful vines, but when I dug them, all I found were sweet potato shells, the voles having eaten them from beneath- and I think they would eat white potatoes too. Hence, the Great Potato Bin Experiment.
I first covered the top if the soil with small-gauge garden cloth (garden fencing with small squares). I anchored it down, and I built a garden cloth bin around it. If it ever stops raining, I intend to fill the bin with soil, compost and peat moss, having first covered the sides with used landscape fabric to hold in the soil…and plant seed potatoes in it! Voila!
I will be taking next week off from blogging (except maybe a brief report or some photos) to celebrate my 50th birthday with several friends!
2 comments:
Well you are certainly looking good Judy! 50 is is good and who would have known you and Barbie the same year of birth--Barbie could learn from you! She can't garden-- she and she should have gone for the doctorate-- as well as learned to get her hands dirty!
Happy birthday to you and keep those gardening tip coming.
At least no one has ever accused me of being a Barbie! Hard to dig with a pitchfork with those Barbie feet!
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