Do-It-Yourself: Growing Potatoes

March 17th, 2009 at 06:29pm Under Agriculture+ VOA

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True or false? Potatoes are root vegetables.

False. Potatoes are underground stems called tubers.

Most kinds of potatoes can be planted during cool weather. But John Masiunas of the University of Illinois Extension says it may be best to wait until after the last winter freeze.

The extension service says the best formation happens when the soil is between fifteen and twenty-one degrees Celsius. Tubers will not form if the soil temperature reaches twenty-seven degrees.

Potatoes are started from “seed pieces.” These are either small whole potatoes or potatoes cut into pieces. Each piece should weigh about forty to sixty grams. The experts at the University of Illinois say pieces that weigh less than thirty grams may not produce as much.

Each piece must have at least one good “eye,” the small dark spot where a sprout will grow. Soon after the pieces are cut, plant them twenty-five to thirty centimeters apart. Cover them in a furrow between two and one-half and seven and one-half centimeters deep. The rows should be spaced about sixty to ninety centimeters apart.

For potatoes, the best soil is fertile and well drained, not wet. To improve clay soils, mix in garden waste or other organic matter and turn the soil deeply in the fall. If possible, in the year before you plant potatoes, plant a cover crop to improve the soil and the potato production. The extension service suggests a crop such as clover, buckwheat or winter rye.

After the potato plants appear, organic mulch can be spread around to hold moisture, help suppress weed growth and cool the soil. John Masiunas says water management is extremely important. Potatoes do not grow well in very dry conditions.

Some gardeners plant potatoes under straw, or stems of dried grain. Instead of burying the seed pieces, place them at the surface. Then spread loose straw ten to fifteen centimeters deep over the seed pieces and between the planted rows. The potatoes should send up sprouts through the straw cover.

You can wait till the fall to harvest potatoes, or harvest them during the growing season as new potatoes. But whatever you do, make sure to handle potatoes carefully. They can bruise easily, and damaged potatoes can quickly go bad.

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. For more advice about growing potatoes and other vegetables, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Bob Doughty.

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Growing Flowers in a Stormy Economy

March 9th, 2009 at 09:20am Under Agriculture+ VOA

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Tulips at the Public Gardens in Boston, Massachusetts (file photo)

We have a question from a Chinese student who is interested in floriculture. Wang Yue wants to know what kinds of flowers Americans like to plant in their gardens.

Some of the most popular bedding flowers are chrysanthemums, impatiens and petunias. Bedding plants are usually started in greenhouses. People buy them in containers and replant them.

Roses are also popular in American gardens. So are tulips, a welcome sign of spring. At the Chicago Botanic Garden in Illinois, workers plant twenty-nine thousand tulip bulbs every fall. The workers move in a long line as they plant row after row of tulips.

Kris Jarantoski is the director of the Chicago Botanic Garden. He says a flowering plant called agastache is also popular in gardens. Hummingbirds love it. Salvia is another popular flower that attracts hummingbirds.

Kris Jarantoski says people also choose flowers such as the spiderflower for its ability to reseed. Another quality that people often look for is the ability to resist dry periods. Lantana is an example of a popular drought-resistant plant.

Where people live can limit the choices for their gardens. The United States is a huge country with all kinds of weather conditions, from desert heat to arctic cold. But something else can also limit people’s choices: a stormy economy.

In a recession, people often “trade down.” They buy a lower-priced version of a product to save money. Home gardeners are no different. Alberto Jerardo at the Agriculture Department says people still want flowers even if they do not have much to spend. To save money, they may buy small bedding plants instead of more costly plants or trees.

The Agriculture Department says growers in California led the nation in the value of floriculture products in two thousand seven, the latest year available. The wholesale value was one billion dollars. Florida was close behind. The leading states for bedding and garden plants are California, Michigan, Texas, North Carolina and Ohio.

But any American growers or home gardeners hoping for an early spring this year just got some bad news. Monday was Groundhog Day and it seems that the famous animal in Pennsylvania, Punxsutawney Phil, saw his shadow. Tradition says that if a groundhog sees its shadow, that means people can expect six more weeks of winter weather.

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I’m Faith Lapidus.

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