Dear Vigilant Watchman:

Now may be the time to plant your potatoes.  They like cool weather.  This
has been an eventful morning.

I was putting ingredients in the crockpot and went to the pantry for an
onion.  To my surprise I found that potatoes that I only recently
purchased were shooting out eyes in all directions, some two inches high! 
I don't believe I've ever had this happen before--all kinds were doing
this--red, yukon gold, russett, all of them.  I believe that God was
sending me a strong and unmistakeable signal.  Plant them NOW.  I have
extra top soil in the driveway and was already preparing a place for them
in an existing bed out front.  We agitated the existing bed and added some
topsoil to keep them high and dry and planted shallots, whole, and healed
potatoes.  I cut the others in good spots so I am leaving them on the
table to heal for a few days.  That will give me time to find their place.

Any potato can be put in the ground even without chiting.  It does not
have to be buried deep (some basically push them an inch into the ground)
but the soil around and under it should be loose.  Keep piling up dirt,
pine needles, etc. as the stem grows if you want it to develop into a root
and more potatoes.  The spring rains should be all they need...this is
getting into the rhythm.  It should be about 3-3.5 months to maturity.  A
second winter crop can be planted, I read, but I can also replace them
with whatever I want to grow there next.  I had wanted to make that a
shallot bed as they are perennials, but I have other spots out front where
I can plant more shallots.

I am going to try a wire fence for some compost I need to move away from
my plants.  It attracts slugs.  I purchased a roll of wire fence.  I'll
cut it with tin snips (scissor-like, cuts metal) and bend it into shape. 
To help secure it in the ground, I'll snip off parts at the bottom and
sink it in the ground.  When I dump my compost, I cover it with a little
dirt to keep it looking good and discourage pests.  Paper, toilet paper,
dried grass, dried weeds, can be used as the "carbon material" we often
hear references.  It is sprinkled after the "nitrogen" decomposing
material.  I'm not that nice with it.  I dump what we have and put some
dirt on it.  Straw takes too long to break down for me.  I've heard too
much urine can be irritating to the earthworms so I use it on the compost
pile when I have a problem.  The problem with coarse compost directly in
the dirt is that it attracts slugs.  You may want to let it rot down if
you are going to mix it in with the soil.  If I were using it unrotted,
I'd bury it down in the bottom when I planted my plant well-hidden well
beneath the soil.

These are just some ideas for you based on what has happened in my yard. 
Now, to go chop up an onion or a shallot for the crockpot.

Mephibosheth

*************

> Thank you for what you wrote about the potatoes. I definitely want to
> plant several along with garlic. If my garden is successful, the addition
> of potatoes would, I believe, make it possible for me to survive entirely
> off of my own land if I needed to this season. Almost all of my seeds and
> plants are in the earth or their seed trays for germination as of
> yesterday.

That's great and quite an accomplishment.  You've made beds, identified
and enjoyed wild edibles, selected plants and put them in the ground.  
That is a lot of work.

Mephibosheth