Potatoes & Strawberries bunnie berry factorys

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In a message dated 6/2/00 8:30:23 PM US Mountain Standard Time,

Samba.SDG (AT) pamho (DOT) net writes:

 

>

> Our spuds are almost two feet high now, and some are starting to sort of

> fall over. Is that normal? I am not sure if they are being sat on by some

> creature. I plan to mulch them heavily with pine needles, instead of

> earthing them up. Is that a good idea? The soil they are planted in has a pH

> of about 5.2, but I just found out that 5.5 is the most acid they should be

> planted in. They are thriving, so I reckon that the compost I put in the

> beds must have altered the pH somewhat.

>

> Out of 150 strawberry plants we planted, only 30 survived, and I wondered if

> maybe the pH was just too acid for them too. We have them interplanted with

> onions.

>

> I planted corn, 4 to a hole, one for the blackbird one for the crow, and

> that leaves two to grow as they say. Of course it was a bit silly of me to

> do that, because we have neither blackbirds or crows, and consequently all

> the seeds came up. So the question is, how big should I let them get before

> thinning and transplanting? Same question for Broccoli and Lettuce? Oh yes

> and how far apart to plant those last two?

>

> Sorry for being such a rank neophyte! Any help will be greatly appreciated.

>

> Its a pity that weeds don't fetch any income. We left our weeding way too

> long, and have spent the last two weeks with a bumper harvest of choice

> weeds. I would compost it, but it is all full of seeds, and unfortunately

> many of those horrible creeping grasses have already seeded the ground.

>

> Hand weeding two acres is no joke, 14 days on your knees, and were not even

> finished! I want to put in a cover crop, but so far have not figured what to

> put in, and we have been so busy with terracing etc. I really wish we had

> someone who was experienced with natural farming to help us. Mauritius is a

> great holiday destination, so if any of you organic growing experts need a

> break, come to Mauritius,

Samba old boy Haribol

What seems to be the symptoms of the strawberries demise? It could be a

disease, pest mites starvation high pH or just the fickle nature of heat,

humidity, and a host of other causes. Or just the wrong plant for the area or

temperature. When you have a problem try to give specifics ... like the

plant was doing great then developed what looked like spider webs and died.

Or some such, I have problems with my strawberries because the heat and very

dry conditions. 108o F (42C) with ten percent humidity. So give us

something to work with there guy. If we can we will give motherly or

fatherly advice. As for the potatoes I have always grown them in old car

tires. I let the plant get about 15 mm (inches) then place the tire over the

plant and pile straw over the plant till the straw is level with the top of

the tire, water with a strong manure tea and wait. About one to two weeks

later the plant will have popped up through the straw and be about as tall as

the next tire you will then place on top of the first add more straw or in

your case pine needles. Water very well and continue that and the plant will

grow up through about four feet of tires (120 mm) of tires. The young plants

will convert the covered leaflets into rootlets and produce potatoes at every

"leaf/rootlet ." Then you let them leaf out and the leaves cascade more or

less down ward. You can check the young harvest by just lifting up the

bottom tire enough so you can feel or see the crop as it is growing and steal

a few "new potatoes" for dinner. you end up at the end of the season with

clean potatoes about four times more than you expected of that amount of land

and no weeding! when you "dig" your potatoes you just pick them up off clean

needles that in turn are used as compost and mulch. potatoes do get as tall

as you describe. they just sprawl and waste time and energy producing leaves

when you want them to produce roots. I don't know if you could experiment

with a plant as large as you describe, but it might work. What variety ore

you growing?

Sorry to hear you had to weed two acres by hand. You need about ten

rabbits. They will convert your weeds into instant bunny berries suitable to

fertilize your crops. You just drop the guilty weeds into the rabbit pen and

poof the rabbits return your weeds as prepackaged "bunny berry fertilizer."

Rabbits are quiet don't bark, rarity bite and require very little room. I

used to keep four pens in my personal garden I used corrugated metal under

the pen and the urine and bunny berries would roll out and down to the crops

that needed their offerings. When I watered I would wash the metal off with

the hose and the cage stayed clean and the plants got the "weed fertilizer"

and urine and I got rid of the weeds. Be careful of mixing the genders of

bunnies it only takes two months to have a litter of eight babies and six

months for the babies to have a family of their own. That was how I handled

my weed problem. Horses on the other hand can eat grass seeds and when they

drop their horse apples they have packaged fertilizer around the seeds giving

them a better chance to sprout and grow so watch what you feed to whom. You

can eat dandelions tumbleweeds Persian and a host of others weeds. Who knows

perhaps you can start a dandelion farm and sell them to the French who just

adore them in salads and as a pot herb.

Carol