Store-Bought Potatoes

[TNTreeHugger]

Started working on my hose clamp weed-whacker yesterday, will get it finished today.
Looking forward to trying it out in the garden. Then I can start adding the store-bought soil.
But, I think I'm going to keep it covered with plastic for another week since I still hear tractors running in the area.
I know my farmers are being careful, but there are others in the area who might not be.

 

[Del_]

Started working on my hose clamp weed-whacker yesterday, will get it finished today.
Looking forward to trying it out in the garden. Then I can start adding the store-bought soil.
But, I think I'm going to keep it covered with plastic for another week since I still hear tractors running in the area.
I know my farmers are being careful, but there are others in the area who might not be.

Just remember that it is a delicate instrument only capable of killing small weeds.

Use the lightest handle you can find. I've also got a smaller version only 18" long.

 

[sean donato]

Why not just buy an action hoe? It's essentially the same thing just not flimsy like the hose clamp. They cost all of $30.00 at lowes. Mine is ancient my pop gave it to me (among other things) when I got my own place. It's similar to this.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-48-in-Wood-Handle-Action-Hoe/1000752686

 

[Del_]

Why not just buy an action hoe? It's essentially the same thing just not flimsy like the hose clamp. They cost all of $30.00 at lowes. Mine is ancient my pop gave it to me (among other things) when I got my own place. It's similar to this.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-48-in-Wood-Handle-Action-Hoe/1000752686

I have three sizes of stirrup hoes plus one a foot wide for my Planet Jr. wheel hoe. The Craftsman action hoe is a stirrup hoe.

To begin with stirrup hoes are quite limited, as is my hoop hoe, only in different ways.

Then there is the $30.

And in the end some of the weeding task I do the 'hoop hoe' works better. The fact that it is roundish and not square makes it so you can get right up next to the plant with out going deeply. I also swing my 'hoop hoe' like a golf club with a back and forth golfing motion.

The stirrup hoe is a great invention but it's not an end all hoe.

You would have to use both to know their differences. Of course it depends on one's gardening style, too.

My hoop hoes are made of 100% recycled materials.

Now if you can teach me how to put an edge on stainless hose clamps I'm all ears. Anyone having a run in with one knows they are already pretty sharp.

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Why not just buy an action hoe? It's essentially the same thing just not flimsy like the hose clamp. They cost all of $30.00 at lowes. Mine is ancient my pop gave it to me (among other things) when I got my own place. It's similar to this.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-48-in-Wood-Handle-Action-Hoe/1000752686

What fun would that be???

Got mine finished and it cost me $3 for the hose clamps. I had the old handle in the barn, and I had the sand paper, wax, wood burning tool, and leather for the hanging loop.
I know I enjoyed making it way more than I'm going to "enjoy" using it.

But I did use it and it's perfect for the little weeds just popping up. Works best in loose soil.
I'll post pics of it when I get my new camera battery.

I cleaned the fish ponds, spraying the green water over the garden. I use a sub pump that I bought as a fountain, and replaced the fountain head with a long piece of clear flexible tubing. Works like a charm!

After that, I made four rows with the new garden soil, ready for planting.
Then I covered it back up with the clear plastic.

 

[sean donato]

I couldn't tell you what mine cost even if I were to guess, it was always in the little shed we kept garden stuff in. I wouldnt doubt if it older then me. never had an issue with getting close to a plant as long as I can remember. It works very well in loose soil, but digging into packed soil isn't much of an issue. To each there own, I was just giving another option.

 

[sean donato]

I have three sizes of stirrup hoes plus one a foot wide for my Planet Jr. wheel hoe. The Craftsman action hoe is a stirrup hoe.

To begin with stirrup hoes are quite limited, as is my hoop hoe, only in different ways.

Then there is the $30.

And in the end some of the weeding task I do the 'hoop hoe' works better. The fact that it is roundish and not square makes it so you can get right up next to the plant with out going deeply. I also swing my 'hoop hoe' like a golf club with a back and forth golfing motion.

The stirrup hoe is a great invention but it's not an end all hoe.

You would have to use both to know their differences. Of course it depends on one's gardening style, too.

My hoop hoes are made of 100% recycled materials.

Now if you can teach me how to put an edge on stainless hose clamps I'm all ears. Anyone having a run in with one knows they are already pretty sharp.

Hose clamps are junk stainless, will take an edge pretty easy, but won't hold it. I'd rough the edge with some 80 grit on the belt sander then step down to 180, then 320. Doubt I'd take it any finer then that. Convex grind would probably be best, but not sure if it would really be attainable on something so thin. Wouldn't take much time to play around and see how it would come out.

 

[Del_]

Hose clamps are junk stainless, will take an edge pretty easy, but won't hold it. I'd rough the edge with some 80 grit on the belt sander then step down to 180, then 320. Doubt I'd take it any finer then that. Convex grind would probably be best, but not sure if it would really be attainable on something so thin. Wouldn't take much time to play around and see how it would come out.

I'd like to make one in the future using that was a solid piece of stainless without the worm gear holes.

My hoop hoe is only best for very specific applications.

Here's a hoe I have that I like better than the stirrup hoe design and I use it more often, too. You control how much it digs in by the angle you hold the handle.




And my Planet Jr high arch wheel hoe works really well.

 

[sean donato]

I'd like to make one in the future using that was a solid piece of stainless without the worm gear holes.

My hoop hoe is only best for very specific applications.

Here's a hoe I have that I like better than the stirrup hoe design and I use it more often, too. You control how much it digs in by the angle you hold the handle.




And my Planet Jr high arch wheel hoe works really well.

View attachment 1170348

May have to look into the push pull hoe, looks nice.

 

[flashy]

Your gonna have zucchini and squash coming out your ears!

It's difficult to grow 'just a little bit'.
When newbies tell me that they only planted 1 packet of zucchini seed I just grin.

 

[JRM]

It's difficult to grow 'just a little bit'.
When newbies tell me that they only planted 1 packet of zucchini seed I just grin.

We will start a few each, but once established will pull all but the best. One healthy plant produces waay more than we need.

 

[Del_]

May have to look into the push pull hoe, looks nice.

It is or was made by Amish evidently. I bought directly from them some time ago but don't remember where and they had a much better price. It's really a pretty simple hoe and I bet a lot of the guys here on the forum could make a good one. Seeing one in person would be all of the info they need I'd imagine. If you want to see photos containing measurements, just say the word and I'll post them up here.

 

[freeasaburt]

I grew potatoes only once, with the help and advice from a friend; I just tried it with some old ones I had, which had started to sprout.
We made 3 raised rows, some 8 feet long, put them in, applied some random mulch so the soil wouldn't dry out too fast, and that was about it. Watered them with captured rain water quite regularly.

It was an experiment rather than a proper effort to grow food, and one of the ideas behind it was that I wouldn't spray - at all.
At first I thought it totally failed; I had a lot of 'Colorado beetles' (Leptinotarsa decemlineata), I took them off by hand and crushed them for a while, until I couldn't be bothered anymore, it seemed pointless.

For quite some time I didn't do anything with that patch, not even weeding; however, at some point it had become one big mess and I started to pull the weeds.
To my surprise, the soil (which is very good for agriculture/gardening in general) was completely full of potatoes; different sizes, some nice and big but also a lot of small ones, and as I didn't 'hill up', I also had to discard quite a lot because they were green, which (always?) indicates the presence of solanine.

I read that solanine has pesticidal properties, so maybe that was the reason the plants did well after all? Not sure...

What do people here do against the Colorado bug? Are there 'feasible' ways to get rid of them without spraying?

 

[sean donato]

It is or was made by Amish evidently. I bought directly from them some time ago but don't remember where and they had a much better price. It's really a pretty simple hoe and I bet a lot of the guys here on the forum could make a good one. Seeing one in person would be all of the info they need I'd imagine. If you want to see photos containing measurements, just say the word and I'll post them up here.

I would appreciate that, at least some decent pictures of one.

 

[Seachaser]

My potatoes.

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Your gonna have zucchini and squash coming out your ears!

Not really, last year I had four hills each of zucchini and yellow squash. It was enough to eat through the season. I don't like frozen squash, but the extra zucchini I grated and froze for bread.
This year, following Del's suggestion, I'll plant only two hills of each at a time.
With my garden and my skills, the last thing I worry about is "having too much."
Any extras, I give away to neighbors.

 

[TNTreeHugger]

We will start a few each, but once established will pull all but the best. One healthy plant produces waay more than we need.

Same for me. I count seeds, not packets.

 

[TNTreeHugger]

I grew potatoes only once, with the help and advice from a friend; I just tried it with some old ones I had, which had started to sprout.
We made 3 raised rows, some 8 feet long, put them in, applied some random mulch so the soil wouldn't dry out too fast, and that was about it. Watered them with captured rain water quite regularly.

It was an experiment rather than a proper effort to grow food, and one of the ideas behind it was that I wouldn't spray - at all.
At first I thought it totally failed; I had a lot of 'Colorado beetles' (Leptinotarsa decemlineata), I took them off by hand and crushed them for a while, until I couldn't be bothered anymore, it seemed pointless.

For quite some time I didn't do anything with that patch, not even weeding; however, at some point it had become one big mess and I started to pull the weeds.
To my surprise, the soil (which is very good for agriculture/gardening in general) was completely full of potatoes; different sizes, some nice and big but also a lot of small ones, and as I didn't 'hill up', I also had to discard quite a lot because they were green, which (always?) indicates the presence of solanine.

I read that solanine has pesticidal properties, so maybe that was the reason the plants did well after all? Not sure...

What do people here do against the Colorado bug? Are there 'feasible' ways to get rid of them without spraying?

That sounds similar to my experience with sweet potatoes last year. First time planting them, I bought plants at the co-op. I enjoyed their flowers all summer and was surprised when I pulled up some real nice potatoes in the fall.
The only "bugs" I noticed in the garden, besides a few tobacco worms, were the hundreds of Gulf fritillary butterflies and their caterpillars, which ate only the Ocoee leaves.

 

[Seachaser]

I'd like to make one in the future using that was a solid piece of stainless without the worm gear holes.

My hoop hoe is only best for very specific applications.

Here's a hoe I have that I like better than the stirrup hoe design and I use it more often, too. You control how much it digs in by the angle you hold the handle.




And my Planet Jr high arch wheel hoe works really well.

View attachment 1170348

Looks like he is not getting the roots out. I would like to see it in a week. Plus cultivation helps keep the soil from compaction.

 

[farmer steve]

Looks like he is not getting the roots out. I would like to see it in a week. Plus cultivation helps keep the soil from compaction.

Agreed. His technique with the regular hoe is wrong. Should be using the corner of the hoe. The flat /straight edge of the hoe is for hilling. I learned from watching the neighbor farmer Noah who used to hoe acres of field corn before herbicides were used. He would wear out a hoe in 1 summer.