Sometimes at the end of August I have the thought that it would be nice to harvest twice a year, as they do in the south. This year I decided to experiment to check whether it will be possible to grow potatoes again. Indeed, in any case, I lose almost nothing, except for a small amount of potatoes. And if everything works out, you will be able to pamper your family with an unexpected crop.
Time for planting potatoes a second time
I have very few places in the garden, and all of it is distributed. Therefore, I decided to plant potatoes after the first harvest was harvested, in the place where the early cabbage and potatoes used to grow.
I reused the bed in the second half of July. Although, as it turned out later, it is best to do this at the very beginning of the month.
Planting material did not look the best. Potatoes from the last harvest were withered with long sprouts. But it was not possible to find vegetables in the best possible way, and I did not want to use only the harvested potatoes. Since there was no other option, I had to take such tubers.
Where to plant potatoes
Then it seemed logical to use the vacant beds. But it’s more correct to act differently. When planting a garden in the spring, you need to take care of a second planting. The beds from which the crop will be harvested earlier should be located nearby. So it’s more convenient to look after vegetables later. You don’t have to run all over the territory to collect beetles, water the plants or treat them from pests.
Potatoes grow well in the place where there were zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkin, cabbage, onions, and legumes. Indeed, in the garden where the cabbage grew, it was possible to collect larger vegetables than in the garden after potatoes. Next year I plan to plant potatoes in a place where cabbage, onions on a feather, radish and greens grew.
How to care for the crop
At first, the care of the vegetable is the same as when grown in normal times. There is no need to wait for the soil to warm up. At the chosen place, weed should be weed out at any convenient time, loosen the soil and plant the tubers in a convenient way. I applied fertilizer to each well, for this I added a handful of wood ash to 1 kg of humus. After planting, I watered the garden bed. Since it was dry and hot, this procedure had to be repeated once every three days.
Due to the need to lay the sprouts on my side, I did not get straight rows. I manually sprouted seedlings separately.
Protection against diseases and pests
Two weeks later, the potatoes sprouted. Seedlings increased rapidly due to frequent watering. In mid-August, I had to think about how to get rid of bugs. I did not want to use chemicals in such a small area. Insects were collected manually, although this did not make them any smaller. It seemed that the number of pests was even increasing.
In early September, when it got colder, late blight appeared on the plant. This was not a surprise, since the nights were already cold, and in the morning abundant dew could be seen on the plant. I struggled with the problem with Fitosporin, processing after 7-10 days.
Harvesting
I planned to harvest at the end of October, as the weather was warm and dry. But due to night frosts at the beginning of the month I had to accelerate. By this time, the tops had already darkened and withered.
For such a short period, the result was not bad. From one bush I managed to collect 10 potatoes. In two and a half months, the tubers grew to the size of a chicken egg, with a flat surface and without damage. The peel was no longer the same as that of a young potato; it was snug.
Of course, many mistakes were made in the process of growing vegetables.But the result was pleased: two dozen potatoes were planted, and about two buckets were harvested. If we take into account all the oversights, then next year the crop may be more plentiful.
