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Well if you're like me and have 2 to 3 foot maturing mounded-up potato plants, your plants may be in need of support - literally.
Almost daily these days, I walk around my rows of potatoes constantly adjusting and re-positioning my bamboo sticks to keep some fallen potato plants standing upright. But it doesn't seem to be enough.
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Potato Plants, some fallen over, before supporting w/ muddy soil |
Monday morning while I was doing my daily ritualistic walk in & around my garden, two things came to me: 1) I need to till in between rows to rid these grass & weeds, but can't due to the day-after-day rains (another day/another blog post), and 2) Some of my potato plants need some helping standing straight.
Then it occurred to me: Why don't I take advantage of this mud, get dirty, and pack some of it around the bases of the potato plants. BRILLIANT! Off I went.
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Mounding wet dirt around potato plant base for support |
Just because potato plants fall over, it does not mean that they're dead or that they can't continue to grow or prosper. I personally choose to keep them upright because it gives me peace of mind, makes my garden look tidy, and allows me to till better in-between my rows.
If there is a downside to this, it's that water might opt to run off rather than soak into the soil due to the excessive packing of the soil, but that's a trade off I'm willing to take.
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Potato plants now standing upright |
Hopefully this will be enough to keep the potatoes standing up straight until they're ready for harvest, but I seriously doubt it. If not, you know where I'll be after the next heavy rain -- gettin' dirty again.
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Nothing like taking advantage of what nature provides. Nice tip.
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