autumn chitting

while i was doing a routine inspection of tubers i had harvested over the summer and earmarked for seed i cam across...well...the title sort of gives it away...chitting potatoes...some seriously so...thes were harvested in late june and early july and at least some are ready to go now...it would seem the indoor season is beginning much sooner this year and i am going to have to do some rearranging in the plant room since there is yacon and some potato plants grown from seed down there ( as well as some grown from tubers produced by plants grown from seed down there last winter ) and there needs to be light for every one...container gardening basment style on tap...always something to do in the garden.

all red and purple valley

while i was rooting around in the potatoes i have set out to chit i ran across the all red in the top photo...it is well sprouted and was ready to plant...so i did (second photo )...while i was down there i noticed that the purple valley i planted a few weeks ago has begun to send up some rosettes of leaves ( third photo ) but what really impressed me was the root system i found hanging out of the bottom of the peat pot when i picked it up ( fourth photo)...clearly the spud has been busy laying the groundwork for the leaves and has decided the time has come to expend energy above the soil surface...so i soaked the bottom of the pot for about half an hour (fifth photo ) and carefully tore the bottom off to give the roots access to the soil in the pot ( you can see it in the sixth photo )...for the nonce these plants will have to share a grow light...i am in possession of more fixtures however and there will be another set up very soon to help these plants get established...so the seed potato project has five plants up and running and the distinct possibility of five more by the new year...there are at least thirty more tubers out and i am waiting for their sprouting to begin...it may be a crowded basement soon enough.

early blue potatoes ( basement update I )

the early blue potato plants that were barely four inches tall twenty-six days ago are nearing two feet tall and showing lots of new growth..robust plants indoors or out, i have been hilling them steadily and will have bushel baskets full of soil, and hopefully tubers, before the planting season starts...the object of this is the production of a variety of seed potatoes for various gardens around the area...the more plants we can generate locally the better, even if they aren't natives...potatoes are an immigrant and their reach is global...we can thank andean farmers for the bewildering variety of these tubers...early blue may be exotic for anyone used to russets but they are mundane compared to some check this link out. https://research.cip.cgiar.org/confluence/display/wpa/Home