Last year, we grew both ozone sensitive and ozone tolerant potatoes. We did not end up collecting ozone data for the potatoes. However, now that we are familiar with how to grow potatoes, we are going to try to collect data on potato foliar damage this year.
We moved the potatoes to the old tomato beds. If we plant tomatoes again, they need to rotated to another bed after being in the same ones for two years. Instead of cutting the potatoes in pieces, we planted smaller potatoes once their eyes started growing.
First, we dug a trench, and placed the soil we dug up in a plastic bin temporarily. Once the trenches were deep enough, we put a layer of compost and plant food in each trench.
Then, we placed potatoes in the beds in a zigzag pattern. One bed has the tolerant potatoes (not damaged by ozone) while the other has ozone sensitive potatoes (can be damaged by ozone).
After that, we covered the potatoes in dirt, making sure to mound the dirt near the center. Soil will need to continuously be piled on top as the potatoes grow. Lastly, we watered the garden.
In other news, spring snowflakes we planted in the Fall have begun to bloom, some of our milkweed plants have appeared above the soil, and our coneflowers are starting to get vertical stalks instead of just looking bushy!
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