Basics:
Blackberries grow from a crown.
The crown sends up a stalk or cane in the first year. No berries will form on this cane the first year. If you head this cane at 3-4 ft, it will promote branching and leaves. The branched vines should be loosely tied to a trellis wire for support.
The second year, this cane will produce flowers and berries. These should be harvested during the summer months. At the end of this second season, the cane is spent and will eventually die. The dead canes should be removed as soon after harvest as practical.
At the same time this second year, the crown will send up a new cane, which is green and growing and has leaves, but will not produce any fruits this year. In a two wire system, this new cane should be headed at the height of the second wire and the resulting branches should be guided along the second wire. Next year, this cane will bear fruit.
Two wire system.
A two wire trellis system simply helps keep the two cane years separate. In year one, the primocane grows and is headed to the lower wire. All the branches are guided along the lower wire and all the fruit is on this same level. For the second year, when the lower wire is fruiting, the new primocanes are allowed to grow up to the higher level wire. The unfruitful branches will be guided along the upper wire and will not mix with the fruiting branches of the lower wire.
When the time comes to prune and remove canes, the system makes it very ease to tell which vines are primocanes and should be saved, and which are the spent fruited canes that need to be removed.
Pruning
The main stalk should 4 feet tall. The laterals are about 20 - 24 inches. Longer canes just get in the way.
Keep the ground under the brambles mowed. Don't allow the grass to compete with the crowns for resources. At the same time, mulch around the base of the blackberries, as much as a foot if possible with straw or grass clippings. (wood chips are not recommended because they prevent new shoots from coming up through it.) Needed to retain moisture.
This is a raw research page for planting potatoes in containers.
Typically, potatoes take a lot of space in the garden and a lot of time to grow to maturity. Dedicating a large portion of one of my beds and tying it up for a long period of time is usually not practical and doesn't get the most use out of my garden space. In addition, harvesting potatoes can sometimes be labor intensive and the rambling vines can crowd out other plants growing near them.
However, a system that uses containers has none of those problems. They can be placed wherever there is open space for them, away from the rest of the garden if necessary. And harvesting involves nothing more than tipping the container onto a tarp and sorting out the tubers. A properly prepared potato container involves little work beyond the initial set-up, and it quietly grows by itself during the season, multiplying each potato about five fold. This is the promise of container gardening. So let's see if it can actually be made into a reality.
Step One. Preparation
Containers
The first step is gathering the containers you are going to use. You can use something as small as a 5-gal bucket, but the easiest thing is to use fabric grow bags in the 10 to 20 gallon size. You can order these off of Amazon. Plastic greenhouse containers are fine, as well, but can be a little harder to store.
I find that the 5 to 8 gal. size containers limit the number of potatoes that each seed potato would normally produce but are great for moving around, if that becomes necessary. They would be perfect for succession planting on a porch or patio. The 20 gal and larger pots are great for growing space but very heavy to manage once they are fully planted, making moving and harvesting more difficult. For me, the 10 to 15 gal size, about 18" in diameter and 12-14" high, is the happy medium.
Growing Mix
We'll also need a bag of potting mix and a bag of compost as the growing medium. Along the way we'll need access to a leafy mulch such as grass clippings, straw, shopped leaves, or shredded paper.
The potatoes use a slow release fertilizer, possibly organic.
Potatoes prefer an acidic soil with a lower pH.
We'll want a higher potassium and phosphorous content, with lower nitrogen in this mix. Something like a 3-4-3, or 3-6-8. Don't use an alfalfa-based fertilizer that is high in nitrogen. This will produce great leafy growth, but the tubers will be small and underdeveloped. Consider using bone meal for added phosphorous.
Seed Potatoes
Finally, you'll need to source your seed potatoes. Just to be perfectly clear, potatoes are not grown from seed. Instead, potato plants are grown by sprouting existing potatoes, which will grow stems and leaves above ground, as well as additional potatoes below ground. There are two sources for these starter potatoes. You can buy specially grown potatoes from a nursery or you can grow regular potatoes that you buy from a grocery store.
The current price for nursery seed potatoes is 5 lbs for $20 from a seed house. These potatoes assure us that they are "certified" disease free, and haven't been sprayed with "growth inhibitor." This is all good and designed to build confidence in the spud.
Another alternative is to use organic potatoes from the grocery store. In theory, these are identical potatoes to the ones from the nursery, except in two respects. First, grocery store potatoes have typically been sprayed with a sprout inhibiting chemical, to keep them from sprouting in the produce aisle. This inhibitor will keep the potato from sprouting at home, and may even persist in keeping them from growing well, even after they have sprouted and been planted. The second negative is that grocery potatoes are designed for eating, not sprouting, so they may harbor diseases like potato blight that you will accidentally introduce into your garden.
The use of grocery seed potatoes has generated a lot of consternation among the homestead gardeners. Every potato gardener has an opinion on the subject. Some doubt the value of "disease-free" seedlings, while others take it as gospel. It's hard to know what value to place on that claim, because any plant you bring into your garden has the possibility of harboring some pest or disease, despite the certification.
It was once thought that potatoes labeled organic have not been sprayed with growth inhibitor so they with readily sprout. However, there are natural sprout inhibitors that some organic producers use.
Some gardeners use only grocery potatoes every year and report continued success. Others swear by certified seed potatoes, and some grow both kinds. One of the problems with certified seed potatoes is that, while they may be readily available at the start of the year, they can be hard to find later in the season. Grocery stores have organic potatoes year-round, so the gardener who started their first crop in April with certified sprouts may turn to grocery store potatoes for their second crop in June.
Even at the best of times, certified seed potatoes can be expensive, particularly for a crop that is relatively inexpensive to buy at the store at any time.
The consensus is that when growing grocery store potatoes, to make sure that they have really sprouted before planting them underground.
Potatoes can be a variable crop. One year abundance, the next year a few golf-ball sized volunteers. One year, they taste sweet and crisp; the next they are "bitter". Much of this variability is due to nutrient deficiencies in the soil, and uneven temperature and moisture levels. Nitrogen promotes abundant leafy growth, which can actually cause the size of potatoes to shrink as energy is drawn from the potato to fuel the stem and leaves. The answer is to develop consistent cultivation practices in preparing the soil and watering.
3 lbs might be $5. Look for potatoes that are starting to sprout or have more pronounced eyes, if possible. This is a viable option later in the season if you want to plant a fall crop in August and the seed potatoes are out of stock.
Potatoes should be sprouted before planting. (Some gardeners don't bother with this step and just plant the seed potato into the ground, but for the highest confidence it can be useful to see that the potato is actually growing.)
Step Two. Succession planting
This system allows for, and emphasizes, succession planting. You don't want all your potatoes to be ready at the same time if you don't have a root cellar to store them. For me, this means that some are in danger of spoiling before I get a chance to use them all, particularly in the summer when the temperatures are so warm.
This system of succession means that we start with 5 containers and plant one on the first of each month, starting in April, with our last potato start in August. Each container planted will grow for 90 days (three months). At the end of the final month, we'll harvest the container. The results of our 3 month growing season are on the smaller side, about the appearance of new potatoes or a little bigger. We could let them go longer and they would probably grow larger. However, harvesting at 90 days will often mean that we can fit a second crop into the growing season.
Our first container is planted in April and grows through the end of June. Our second container is planted on May 1st and grows through the end of July. Its similar for the June container. In July, we can re-use the container we harvested at the end of June. At the beginning of August, we should plant two containers to be ready for the end of October, to help build up a stockpile that will carry us into the winter months.
Step Three. Planting the container
To plant the potatoes, select 5 sprouted seed potatoes for a 15 gal container. The base mix is a 50/50 mix of potting soil and compost. Put 4" of this base mix into the bottom of the container. Mix 1/2+ cups slow release fertilizer at this level. Then place your 5 potatoes in an equidistant pattern, one in the center and four others spaced around it.
Next cover the potatoes with 4" of potting soil only (no compost). If it feels especially heavy, add in peat to lighten it. Water thoroughly. Over the next week, allow the potatoes to grow up through the potting mix and put out leaves. When the leaves are about 4" tall, mulch the surface of the soil with the dry mulch you identified (grass clippings, chopped leaves, straw, shredded paper). As the potato plant grows up to the rim of the bag, continue adding dry mulch up to the rim and let the leafy growth spill out over the top.
Step Four. Growing
The potato plants can grow on their own, at this point, provided that the soil remains evenly moist. Potatoes will rot in waterlogged soil, but the fabric grow bags will cause more rapid drying of the soil so the opposite problem, dry soil, may be more of a danger. Check soil moisture and be ready to water every 3-4 days.
Use a double watering technique to ensure that the soil is evenly moist. Water until you see it leaving the bottom of the bag. Then let it rest for 10 - 15 minutes. Then, come back and water again to give the soil time to absorb the water.
During the growing phase we will be looking for several milestones. After several weeks, the potato plant will flower and then the petals will drop. It is at this time that the tubers begin to enlarge. Some growers like to add additional fertilizer at this point.
As we reach the end of the 90 day growing period, observe the leaves of the potato plants. They should begin to turn yellow. Eventually they will die entirely, although you will usually harvest the potatoes before this point.
At the very end of the growing season, however, things are slightly different. At the start of August, you will start two containers of potatoes. As usual, they will run for 90 days, taking them through the end of October. These will be our keeper potatoes that will last in storage a short ways into the winter.
This time, we won't automatically harvest them. Instead, as long as there isn't any danger of frost, we will watch these two pots instead. The leaves will turn yellow and finally die. Once that happens we're going to let them sit for up to two weeks, still in their pots. During this time, the skins will toughen making them more suitable for storage. The temps in the garage during Nov and Dec will be slightly cooler and more suitable for a root crop storage bin.
3/14
3/15
3/16
Growing tomatoes is a significant part of the focus of the garden. The objective is to have a plan that tells you what to do at every stage of tomato production, so that it doesn't crash somewhere along the way.
At each stage of the process, you have a plan and the tools for production, and an eventual outcome. What so often happens is that you don't have one step of the plan worked out, so that the whole effort is disrupted and all the work you've done up to that point is wasted.
Pre-Production
So it's January and you are looking down the pathway of the long season ahead of you. You need to decide at this point:
I typically grown 3 -4 of each type and keep the seed packets in a ziplock in the refrigerator.
Propagation
Tomato seeds readily sprout in a propagator and can be grown out in 3-4" pots for several weeks indoors under lights. I use the Aerogarden with the seed starter kit.
Tomatoes need to be planted in May. I have a whole post on the timing of the tomato planting but the shorthand is 3 weeks in the propagator from seed, and three weeks growing out in pots. That means I need to begin seeding 6 weeks before I want to transplant them. Transplanting in mid-May means seeding in early April. That gives me the timing and tools for this stage.
Transplanting
Tomatoes need to be transplanted in May. Any earlier and they sulk and do nothing; any later and you begin to lose the growing season. Major disease can begin to be a problem in mid July.
Indeterminates like the Big Boy slicers and the cherry tomatoes need to be trained to poles. I use two-piece poles of galvanized iron. So these poles need to be put in place just as the transplants are put into the ground.
Determinates like Roma need sturdy tomato cages to keep the sprawling branches off the ground. Again, these need to be installed when first transplanted.
Growing
Growing tomatoes need a steady rhythm of fertilizer/ kelp tea, trimming, and spraying of baking soda or hydrogen peroxide to help combat fungus. In other posts, I've worked out what works best for me. As we mentioned earlier, we have a limited growing season to establish the plants, put on the leaves and set fruit.
Harvesting
At first, the harvest of tomatoes is a delight, but soon the major and ongoing production will overwhelm your palate for fresh tomatoes and you need to think about preserving. The classic solution is to can your tomatoes as salsa, sauce and diced tomatoes. If you don't have time to can them right away, you can freeze them in zipper bags, and bring them out in the fall to complete the processing.
Preserving
Tomatoes will eventually be canned. One of the challenges of this step is to know how many cans of each item you will use during the year. For me, this is 12-18 pints of salsa, sauce, and diced tomatoes. Anything more will not be eaten and will hang around until next year.
For the preserving process, I use all the canning equipment, the juicer attachment and all the rest.
Eating
The last step of this long process is actually enjoying the tomatoes. We've been eating them fresh all along but now that they have been canned, we must continue to find ways of including them in our cooking. That means that we need to find recipes that use diced tomatoes, or tomato sauce. We need to use one per month to make sure we eat everything.
Up to this point, we've been talking about growing tomatoes in the garden, but today we are going to look at what to do with the harvest.
Generally speaking, were going to look at the order in which we can various tomato products and what to do with them afterward.
So the moment has come that you have far more tomatoes coming in from the garden than you can eat fresh. The counters are rapidly filling up and if you don't do something soon, they will start to go bad. Before that point you need to think seriously about preserving them, either by canning or freezing.
The main products I make my tomatoes into are Salsa, Diced tomatoes, and Tomato sauce. I like to target 16 pint jars of each.
For each of the recipes, follow Steps One through Three listed below.
Step one is sourcing your jars and lids. The empty jars that you used last year are out in the garage on the shelf, gathering dust and cobwebs, so I bring them all in and run them through the dishwasher. Lids and rings have been very hard to come by, recently, so I make sure to order them at whatever price the goblins require.
Step Two. As the tomatoes come in from the garden, particularly the cherry tomatoes and Romas, we're going to process them into freezer bags. Simply cut the cherry tomatoes in half and cut both ends off the cylindrical romas. Then pack them into a zipper freezer bag, suck out all the air with a straw and lay them flat in the freezer. Leave them in the freezer for at least 48 hours.
Step Three. When the tomatoes come out of the freezer and are completely thawed, you will notice two things. First, the skins will begin to peel easily away from the tomatoes. Second, there will be a good amount of tomato juice gathered in the bottom of the bags. Peel the tomatoes and save the tomato juice in quart jars. Chop the romas in half. (The cherry tomatoes are already chopped.)
Step Four. We are using the Kitchen Aid vegetable strainer attachment to the power hub of the mixer. Whether the tomatoes are frozen and thawed or fresh and trimmed, we continue along the same path. Fresh vegetables should be chopped so that they can fit into the feed tube of the grinder.
Set Up: The recipe calls for 15 lbs of tomatoes as well as several 15 oz cans of tomato paste, so have those ready. Run your intended tomato sauce jars through the dishwasher while you are working on the tomatoes. Make sure you have new lids and clean rings for the number of jars you intend to fill. Fifteen pounds of tomatoes produces four to six 25-oz jars of tomato sauce.
On the stove, you should have three stock pots. One is for tomato juice, the other is for tomato sauce, and the third will be for tomato pulp. At the juicing station, you need a tall container for the seeds and pulp, and a wider container for the sauce. On top of the sauce container place a fine mesh strainer, to separate the sauce from the juice.
Feed the chopped tomatoes through the hopper and it will produce the pulp and sauce. Work in batches, and when a container is full, transfer the contents to the relevant pot on the stove. They should be heating on medium or lower to maintain a low simmer.
When you've juiced all 15 lbs of tomatoes, see how much they produced on the stove. The three pots should be simmered for at least 1 hour, while you continue to work.
Process the Pulp. Start with the pulp and roughly measure how much skins, seeds and pulp your batch produced. Add roughly 1/3 of that amount in water to the pulp pot and bring to a boil. (For example, if your 15 lbs of tomatoes produced 6 cups of pulp, add 2 cups of water to the pulp pot.) Bring the pulp to a boil, stirring well, and let it gently boil for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally. After simmering, remove from heat and allow the pulp to cool for 15 minutes. Then run the pulp back through the vegetable strainer. Again, it will produce more pulp, juice, and sauce. Discard this remaining pulp, and add the sauce and juice to their respective pots.
Process the Sauce. The finished sauce is ready to can at this point. Depending on how thick the sauce is, you may want to continue simmering for an additional hour, or you can consider adding tomato paste to thicken it to your desired consistency. Adding some amount of paste helps keep the sauce from separating in the jar during storage.
Prepare the pressure canner and add the jars to the vented canner to start heating them.
Mix up the Italian seasoning blend. This should make 6 Tbsp.
Add 1 Tbsp salt, 1 Tbsp Sugar, and 1-1/2 tsp Citric Acid (or 1/3 cup lemon juice).
You should also have a can of commercial tomato sauce on hand, if you need to top off one of the jars to the proper 1/2" headspace.
With the hot tomato sauce, fill the heated jars, and pressure can at 10 lbs for 15 minutes. Be sure to pre-vent, and natural release the pressure.
Process the Juice. At this point, the tomato juice will be very thin, but it will be full of flavor. You have a few options at this point.
For Fortified Pasta sauce:
Mince 1 cup onion (1 med onion) and 6 cloves garlic. Spread them on a baking sheet and roast them in the oven for 20 minutes. Mix the tomato juice with tomato paste at a 2:1 ratio. Add the Italian seasoning blend listed above to the sauce with 1 Tbsp Sugar. To each 24 oz jar, add 1 tsp salt, 1.5 Tbsp lemon juice. Fill to 1/2" headspace and pressure can using the instructions listed above.
Step Four and a half (if you don't have a kitchen aid vegetable strainer. Gather all your diced tomatoes in a slow cooker, set on high. Let them cook 8-10 hours or overnight and the tomatoes will continue to release juice. Ladle this juice into the quart jars you started before. At the end of this process, you may end up with equal parts tomato meat and tomato juice. Run your diced tomatoes through the blender. At this point, consider the thickness of your sauce. You may want to return the sauce to the slow cooker or a stock pot for an additional 2 hours to achieve a thicker sauce.
Complete this process until you have 16 pint jars of sauce.
Next, assemble the vegetables necessary to make a batch of Annie's salsa. This requires 8 cups of diced tomatoes along with onions, green pepper and the rest. As before, follow Steps One, Two, and Three listed above before proceeding. You want to use diced tomatoes that have been previously frozen, then thawed, peeled, and had some of the tomato water naturally separated. You won't cook this in a slow cooker as you did before, but it will benefit from having some of the water separated. Save this juice in your quart jars.
Chop the vegetables and combine in a stock pot following the recipe. Can and process as usual, resulting in 16 pint jars of salsa.
The next step is to make diced tomatoes. For this process, begin as usual, with steps one, two, and three. This time, instead of slow cooking them, add the diced tomatoes directly to the canning jars. When you get to step five, prepare your jars, add 1 tbsp lemon juice and 1/2 tsp salt. Here, take out the tomato juice you saved in the quart jars and heat it on the stove until it just begins to simmer.
Pack the jars with diced tomatoes. Then, pour the simmering juice over the top until the tomatoes are covered and the juice reaches the bottom ring of the jar. If you don't have enough tomato juice, you can use boiling water instead, but use up the juice first. Then, add rings and lids and process with a water bath.1
This process should give you 16 pints of diced tomatoes.
