Square Box Gardening # 5

Square Box Gardening - #5

And here it is again. The first hint of Winter approaching.  The nights starting to cool way down into the 60's 50's and sometimes even into the upper 40's.  The Monarch Butterflies already passing through. Even a few leaves starting to fall. Out in my garden - a ways from the patio in back where I sit with my wife in a shady spot, each with our book in hand; a single squirrel is wobbling his way back and forth from some nut tree of my right neighbor across to his home in a big tree owned by my neighbor on the Left. His tail swishing and a dipping and a bouncing as he tries to stay balanced with a big walnut in his mouth. Almost more than he can handle.  Trip after trip. He must have hit the mother-load!

The Grass in the back yard needs mowing but I just don't feel like it.  I notice the lone pine tree that I transplanted this spring from a garden plot to a good corner of the garden is beautiful and about 4 inches taller than me. It grew over a foot this year. I discovered it in my hoop-house a year or so ago only about 2-1/2" tall. It is now almost 6 foot tall.  The Pickling Cucumbers are noticing the cool down too. Very few blossoms. The leaves are dropping and the stems are starting to look naked although I did pick a small bucket full a few minutes ago. The Regular Cucumbers on my Trellis are starting to grow a little slower but here is Yours Truly holding a few that I harvested about a week or so ago.

 We Still have tomatoes ripening. Because of all the extra work building many garden boxes (maybe have to build  3 or 4 boxes next spring instead of over 40, Tomatoes got in a little late. I didn't get Zucchini or Watermelon in at all.



 I am new to growing garlic but I decided I had better plant some this spring. The vampires are really getting thick this year... (I know, your supposed to plant garlic in the fall and then harvest them from early spring until fall of the next year) I went and done it all bass-ackwards . Garlic weren't really big when I pulled them this summer but I cleaned them and put the cloves in a fruit jar coated with olive oil "to keep them fresh" according to my daughter. Then stuck them in the fridge. That was the first batch.  Then I cleaned out the other half of the patch I had planted in one of my plots and decided to use Those for a Fall Planting like people tell me I should do.  OK. I also wanted to know how many I could plant in one of my square wooden Garden Boxes.  I planted them in about 3 square inches apart and got about 24 to one box and 35 in an other. Then I have 1- 4 ft Sq. Box where I planted about 75 garlic. Here are a few pictures:

   Large 4 Square Ft. Box of Garlic. Using 1 x 8
          Lumber from Old Red Wood Fencing. 

They started coming up right away. I'm not sure they are supposed to do that!  Probably still to warm to plant in the fall... Anybody in South-Central Kansas know?   Next year I will try planting garlic in September .   In a few weeks, I plan to cover them over with Old Maples Leaves and Wheat Straw - after adding a little cow manure stirred into the upper box soil. I am thinking maybe about a Cup of Manure mixed into a gallon of my favorite purchased mulch - Cotton Boll Compost.  Is the mix right? I don't know. But this is a Blog on Experimental Gardening in South Central Kansas.  About 5 miles into where they say the Great South West Begins!  On the tip of Zone 7.   I'll know in the spring and fall next year when I harvest them -  If there is any to harvest. Stay Tuned!   I don't know how well these little garlics will take the winter in a wooden box with mulch over them. The garlic were cheap. I got their parents from the grocery store. I thought they were Elephant Garlic - but they looked like awful little elephants. Maybe they will grow bigger next year!  And they will be growing in my Famous -  Garden Box Soil Mix!  I figure, if I can come up with a good dependable mix for most vegetables - why buy little bags. I can mix my own.  So far I am pretty happy with the all-purpose mix for my boxes that I have come up with. Then I will experiment with Additives. That is the great thing about using these boxes. You know Exactly what you put into each box and Exactly what that plant or plant group grew on.   For Tomatoes, I might mix in a little more bone meal  and test out a cup of Corn Meal - which is purported  to counter Tomato Blight.

When I filled my Square Foot Boxes, I wanted to be sure the soil was firmly packed in the boxes. I used 6 Gallons of my Soil Mix to each box. Half the first time. and pack firmly but not hard with my hand. Then the rest poured over that and again packed firmly. I used my fingers to pack even more firmly around the edges.
If you fail to this, a rain or just pouring or sprinkling water in will tend to run to the edges and right down the sides. You might add a gallon of water, and most will run down the sides and out at the bottom through the seep holes at the bottom sides of the box that should be there for Hard Rain drainage or over watering by your Grand Kids! Check once in a while for soil cracks along the sides - especially in the hot dry part of the season. Push soil down into these cracks.  The soil around the plant may be hard too! If so, you should break it up a little with a small trowel or even a large screwdriver. This allows the plant roots to not only get Water, But roots need Air, which usually gets in with loose soil, and the help of earthworms.

Speaking of worms, Maybe I will add a dozen worms to a few boxes next year and see if there is a difference. The climate changes so drastically here that it is hard to predict when and where I can find worms short of going down to buy fishwoms at the local GOMart! And I understand that these are not the best for gardens and probably wouldn't survive anyway. I have started a small bucket size worm farm in my garage which is Hot in the Summer and Cool in the winter. The Lordetts of the Manor will not allow me to bring them into my closet inside nor even in the basement where tempertures are nicely moderated!.  So they are stuck in my Garage from Hell. They managed to survive the Summer heat. Now comes the Winter.   There Are lot of baby worms in the bucket so I assume they must be getting along famously!  Again, Check back with me next Spring folks. If my worms survive through the Winter,  I will build a proper Worm Ben for them next Spring. Just what I need. Another Project for my Garden. You should see my List!

I also plan to get closer records on different fertilizers. This year, I used recommended amounts of Miracle Gro on my Tomato plants. Nothing exceptional happened. And Fish Emulsion on my large Salad Cucumbers and my Pickling Cucumbers. They seemed to flourish and prosper!  But I did not really keep good notes. So I really can't give you a Quantitative answer on the results.

Check back soon for "More Square Box Gardening - # 6 where I will go into more detail about the Soil Mix I worked up for my Garden Boxes - an All Around Mix that I am very happy with. I will also show you what happens when you just set them on the turf, pour some soil in, insert seeds or transplants and water. You'll be amazed at some of the uses and results. Have a nice Fall! I already have my " Long Handles" patched and ready to go for what looks like a Cold Winter Coming On. Tonight we will have a Low of 40 degrees F. in South Central Kansas. Atchinson is expecting a Freeze. Kill all the tomatoes - and then warm up into the 70's for the rest of next week . What's Up with That!

Bob
GrandBob

http://GrandBobsGarden.Blogspot.Com
 Send this link to your friends. Just Copy and Paste into your e-mail to them. It's Always Free!

P.S. And while your here, please click on our Facebook link and Twitter Links above before you leave. I would love to hear from you as I know what you would like to see more of. Check out the simple "Comment" section below and say "Hello". Yesterday, we went over 2000 visits for the past month.

Square-Box-Gardening #6

Email: RobertLee97@gmail.com

Growing Sweet Potato Slips for Your Garden

Growing Sweet Potato Slips 

by Robert Mader

Yes. Sweet Potatoes can be beautiful. You can start growing vines right now. Just pick a nice sized Sweet Potato in the grocery store. Set it in a glass of water. Soon within a week or two, you will have "slips" growing from it. If it was spring (warm enough) you could just take that potato out of the water, cut off a slip (eye with a vine starting from it- about the size of a quarter and about as thick and put it into a small pot with potting soil. Let it get nice roots and plant it out in your garden in a nice sunny spot.

Recently, I have had several letters from folks that want to know how to plant their sweet potatoes outside. Either as an Ornamental or in the Garden to grow their own plot of Sweet Potatoes.

A few weeks ago I  started a new Sweet Potato to get better information on "slips" and show their development. From time to time, I will hopefully get some good pictures to illustrate the process all along the way to planting. This may end up with starting more than one potato because they may grow faster than I want! Spring is a long way off here in South Central Kansas! 

I have done some research lately and below is some of the results:

When the sprouts are about 4 to 6 inches long, carefully twist off the sprout from the potato. Strip a few of the lower leaves off. Lay the stem half in a shallow bowl of water (with leaves out in the air). Roots will start to form in a few days.

When the roots are about 1 inch long, you may plant the slips. Pick a cloudy day or plant near the evening . if you can't finish the planting in one day, put the rest in water again or make a mud slurry in a large bowl in the shady place or inside to keep them until the next day or two.

Water well. water every day for the first week and then every other day. Lengthen out the watering period to about once a week. Your plants should be getting about an inch of "rain" a week.

You will want to start your "slip" growing (setting your potato in water) about 9 weeks before planting in spring. The soil should be warm when the slips are planted out. Also loose.

Here is a few pictures that I have recently taken of a new sweet potato put in water just a few weeks ago.

                                                                                                                                                                    Instead of toothpicks, I decided for strength I would try nails. This was a huge Sweet Potato!  So far - no problems have developed. Perhaps it will develop super "Iron Slips"!  It is just now starting to put out slips but has not put out any roots yet. Roots should develop soon at the bottom. "Slips" or stems are just starting.  The container is actually a cottage cheese tub that I cleaned and spray painted green. I think it looks rather nice and I don't have to beg my wife for a quart jar! 

Sweet Potatoes can produce up to 50 or more slips per potato!

 Each one of the "warts" that you can see above produce a "slip" or growing stem with leaves.  At the upper right corner near the right edge, the dark red-ish large perturbance is the beginning of a new slip. Yes, this  potato is an ugly sucker but it has a lot of potential for a lot of kids! Unlike regular potatoes, Sweet Potatoes don’t have eyes – just tiny slits and bumps all over.

 Here near the bottom of the Sweet Potato you can see 2 new "Slips"  or stems forming along with the new leaves which will eventually turn green.

 At the very bottom.  roots will soon form

 but are not yet visible on this Sweet Potato

 Close-up of a "Slip"

When these "slips" reach from 4 to 6 inches long, they can be twisted carefully off at the base where they first come out of the potato and lay in a shallow bowl of water with the leaves out in the air. (Leaves should be stripped off the bottom half rooting end. These slips or stems will soon form roots. Be sure to change the water every few days to molding and rotting. This won't harm the Sweet Potato much at first but it can take the fun out of your project as the weeks progress!

When the roots of these new slips are an inch or so long, you can plant them out in your spring garden -  assuming the soil is warm enough. If it's warm enough for Green Peppers to grow, it’s probably warm enough for this semi-tropical plant.

 TIP CUTTINGS

If the slips have grown into long vines, 10 to 12 inch cuttings from the Tips of the vines can be snipped off to root instead of Slips. Clean a few leaves off the cut end and insert it in water to root. You should see new roots within a few days or so.

 This was just one slip but already it can be divided and made into 2 plants with plenty of roots to spare. 

As you can see, each leaf nodule is putting out new roots. You can see how the leaf has been snipped off with the little short stubs or nodules left. I literally use a small sharp scissors to cut the leafs of and chop the stem into separate starts to put in water.  When cutting the stems always leave one or two leafs at the top to make food from the light until roots come out of the leaf nodules you cut.

This is the same slip cut into 3 seperate pieces . Two - which both had leafs - were set into plain damp potting soil and watered in. The last piece which only has roots was put into a small jar in the light hopefully to generate l leaf or two before planting. 

NOTES 

1.  A whole potato can be cut into 2 or 3 sections or slices. Bottom Half of each section or slice is set down in the water and the Top half stick out into the light and air. Sections or slices will work just as well as a whole Sweet Potato.

2. For best results, plant the slips from 12 to 18 inches apart in rows about 4 feet wide. The soil should be humped into a Ridge and the Ridge should run down the middle of each row and be about 8 inches high to allow good drainage.

3. For best results, Give the plants an inch of rain a week. Sprinklers should fill a soup can set near your plants with one inch of water. Set several cans around to get an idea of how much you are really watering.  See how much time it takes for the sprinkler to fill the can one inch. Each plant should be given this much watering time with the sprinkler at that setting. This will give you very close to a gallon of water per watering - or one inch of rain. In the heat of the summer, you may have to water more than once a week. To keep my plants alive last summer during our 50+ days of above 100 degree heat, I had to water them every day. And the tomato's still turned out little mummified quarter-sized fruit! Go figure....

4.  Fertilize every few weeks with a LOW Nitrogen type all-purpose fertilizer -  5-10-10 is good. Too much nitrogen (the first number) will give you beautiful green leafy plants with little produce! The plants think they are in heaven already - and wont produce fruit! 

Also make a furrow  a few inches ( 6 inches or 12 Centimeters out ) along side the plants and put about a cup of Bone Meal over a length of 20 feet of row. Cover the furrow and water it enough for the soil to be damp down to about about 5 inches. Once a season is enough. Potatoes need Calcium! Do the same with regular potatoes. A box of Bone Meal will cost you a few bucks and will feed a whole garden full of Sweet Potatoes And your "Yukon Gold's" and "Russets" too.

5. The soil should be rich and light so the tubers can grow easily through out the needed growing space.  Here is a good soil mix:

    1 part Potting Soil                          

1 part Compost

   1 part Peat Moss

Mix well

6. Last of all ( or first maybe I should say) start your Sweet Potatoes for your slips in a warm place with a little sunshine - but not right next to the glass of a window to cook! Optimum temperature would be around 80 degrees (25 Celsius) Lower temperatures in the 70's (20's Celsius) will slow down the growing process but they will still grow. Anything lower will probably not produce slips at all and just rot you Sweet Potato.

Copyright Robert Mader 2011

 All Rights Reserved

Any questions just write me at:              robertlee97@gmail.com

It might take me a day to answer, but I will return your e-mail soon!

Also, please leave a Comment just below this article if you would. We would all like to hear what you think and any new ideas you may have. Until next time.

Cheers!

Bob

GrandBob