We planted seed potatoes about 3 months ago and the plants were growing really well until a few weeks ago when they started to die of and be eaten by slaters and bugs. We thought they were a lost cause. This morning Ken suggested that we go down to the vegie patch and pull out the plants that were worthless.
Ken pulled out all the straw that was in around the potato plants and then pulled out the plants themselves, there were a few small potatoes, which Ken gave to me to put on the bench. He then dug through the soil (that looks so much healthier than when we started) and there were more potatoes. He asked me to get a bucket 'cause there was getting to be a pile of them. We filled one 20 litre bucket with potatoes and then we filled a 10 litre bucket.
So our potato patch that we thought was going to be a failure has reaped rewards. We have estimated that we have 10-15 kilograms of spuds from half a $6 bag of seed potatoes. I hope Dad's potatoes are just as successful - he's got the other half of the bag!
These potatoes were grown in the soil that had been dug through with sheep manure and protected by straw. We watered them regularly and used no chemicals on them.
