in & out: June 2009

Information condensed (and copied) from: “The Garden Primer: 100% Organic”, by Barbara Damrosch (2008)

Broccoli Datasheet

Ideal soil and weather conditions:
- Soil site: good drainage and air circulation
- Ideal pH 6.7-7.2
- Needs plenty of nitrogen
- Calcium is important (add lime to achieve this)
- Add well rotted organic matter around plants
- Keep soil cool and moist using a thick mulch; Tolerates cool weather

Growing Guidelines:
- Space plants 30-60cm apart
- Early crops can be inter-planted with something smaller (like baby lettuce and spinach)
- Good mulch helps retain moisture, but in drought be sure to give a good, long soak

Pests and Diseases:
- If cut worms threaten the young plants, use collars made of paper (copper can zap slugs)
- check for sleeping worms in the morning in the ground near the plant
- Cabbage worms are another pest (do little damage, but can spread to other more vulnerable plants). They are camouflaged green with the plant, look closely and pick off. Floating row covers can be placed on top of plants in spring before the white butterflies lay their eggs on them.
- Spray aphids off with a hose
- Root maggots can be a problem in some gardens; you can use small tar paper mats placed on the soil around spring transplants
- Most bugs won’t bother later crops

Harvest:
- Cut first big head off with a sharp knife above any new forming buds
- Keep picking to keep buds from going to flower (after which the plant will stop producing edible stalks)
- Sprouts continue well after head is cut (if not too hot)
- Days to harvest: 70-95 days

Potatoes Datasheet

Ideal soil and weather conditions:
- Prefer a more acid soil than most vegetables (between pH 5.0 and 6.8 is tolerable range)
- Heavy clay soils make it hard for full size tubers to develop, they drain poorly and cause tubers to rot
- Alkaline soils more conducive to disease called Scab; scab produces rough spots on the tubers but rarely ruins the crop
- Well rotted compost is best along with some phosphorous if needed. Avoid wood ashes as they are alkaline
- Soil needs to be very well drained and aerated and should not be extremely rich

Growing Guidelines:
- Plant them in a shallow trench filled partway with soil; then as plants grow mound up soil to add underground space in which the tubers will grow hidden from light (light makes them green and this is poisonous as are the white sprouts from the eyes)
- Make trench 6 inches deep and place potato pieces 1 foot apart; plant potato root end down…but they will grow upside down too; then cover with 3-4 inches of soil and rake in soil from the sides as plant grows
- When plant is 6-8 inches tall, burry all but the topmost leaves (repeat if/when you can)
- An alternative method is to pile up thick mulch – potatoes require consistent soil moisture for good growth so mulching helps anyway
- Don’t plant in fresh manure; encourages scab

Pests and Diseases:
- Watch out for Colorado potato beetles!!! Can wipe out a whole crop (see picture).
- Rub off reddish egg masses under the leaves, hand pick off beetles and place in soapy water
- Aphids and other insects can spread disease and should be picked off
- Floating row covers at planting time are very effective
- Late blight is the worst disease (the same one from the Irish potato famine)
- If foliage becomes blackened, then moldy, then it has…the BLIGHT!!! Remove it, burn it, and wait a few weeks to dig any potatoes under the soil. Best way to combat blight is with clean seed, crop rotation and hope you don’t run into long spells of the cool damp weather that seems to foster it

Harvest:
- Leaves grow first; then, tubers form before approaching cooler weather
- When white or purple flowers blossom it is a sign that potatoes lie beneath (earliest); when foliage dries out and dies potatoes are fully mature (can take 4 months)
- For good storage potatoes, leave them in the ground for at least a few weeks after the foliage withers and browns (this thickens up their skins)
- Dig out potatoes on a dry day (dry soil)
- Days to harvest: 55-80 days (for baby potatoes), 120 days (for biggest)