Potato growing - a giant conundrum

In Mole Creek autumn’s here. Well and truly. And this morning Sweetheart Vivienne flies to Melbourne. So two days ago we harvested our potatoes. Mostly from two 5-metre long patches we’d put down in our orchard – sown between a thick layer of newspaper below and straw mulch on top. These potatoes were small. Disappointingly so. Our sharefarmer neighbour Sharon said that even after their above-ground stalks and leaves have died down, potatoes left in the ground continue to grow in size. I don’t know if she’s right. And this year I won’t know – because our entire crop’s in the box (pictured). The same day Sweetheart Vivienne and I also harvested the last of the potatoes we’d grown in a stack of car tyres – in soil enriched by compost. Included were, as you can see in the photograph of the combined orchard/tyres crop, two giants. They’re the biggest potatoes we’ve ever grown. How did we do it? Beats me. Both were near the tyres’ rubber. Maybe it was warmer there. Wetter, too. Or perhaps it was the variety of potato. Or even, given Sharon’s theory, leftovers from last season. Or all of the above. Who knows? Like many things in my life, food growing’s something I’d like to improve incrementally and iteratively season-by-season. But so many variables are involved that it’s impossible to know what works – and what doesn’t. Anyway it’s fun. As it can be. Because it’s not my livelihood. Ho hum.

farmdoc's blog post number 606

When I was a nipper I hardly ever ate cooked vegetables. Maybe this was because my mother (and grandmother) tended to overcook them. I’ll never know. I did, however, eat a small number of vegetables raw. But I’m sure overall I ate less vegetable than I should’ve. I think a lot of kids are like I was. Which is a problem, because no doubt vegetables are an essential component of a balanced diet. So I was intrigued to read on page 35 in the latest issue of Tas Regions magazine, of the Vegecation program – which aims to get kids to eat more vegetables by increasing the awareness of the importance of eating fresh produce. The 1-week pilot programme at 10 primary and secondary schools in North West Tasmania, involved 1,550 children sampling a wide variety of vegetables and fruit. Apparently it was such a success that next year Vegecation is to be extended to all Northern Tasmanian schools, with add-ons including growers giving talks at schools. It sounds fine to me. Visits to paddocks and market gardens would be worth considering too. After – or before – all, here in Tasmania, Taste is in our nature.

P.S. Now that I’m an older kid, I eat more vegetables. And what’s more, some cooked ones too. But doing so hasn’t made my hair grow – let alone get curly. Ho hum.