Gardening Progress

[eien_herrison]

Haven't been around much, I've been too busy with regular life to really post here, but I have been working on my garden

Comments

[jensanity78]

if you want them to ripen on the plant, you could try putting apple or banana peels on top of the soil

[eien_herrison]

That could be an idea, thanks :)

[marsha948]

Are potatoes a perennial?

[eien_herrison]

It's not so much that they're a perennial but more if you leave any potatoes in the ground they'll go dormant over the colder season and grow back the next year (we dug up one tiny little potato a little bigger than a pea and it had enormous shoots on it). Potatoes can carry blight and it's not advised to grow them in the same place year after year -- the same is true for tomatoes and strawberries. The advice I've been given is that you should never grow any potatoes, tomatoes, or strawberries in a place which has had those three growing there for at least three years to avoid any disease affecting them.

[marsha948]

What is Blithe? I have planted strawberries for the first time this year and they are doing wonderful. I planted them in a raised bed, but are you saying they need to be moved and transplanted every year, because they can not continue to grow in the same place for fear of disease?

[eien_herrison]

Blight is a disease which can infect plants and reduce their yield and also potentially kill them. The main one for non-commercial gardeners is the fungus that causes early blight which largely affects tomatoes and potatoes.

Your strawberries are fine to stay where they are, you won't need to move them (my strawberry plants are in the same place I originally planted them last year). Strawberry plants tend to do fine for 3-5 years before they need replacing; i/when you plan on replacing the plants you do have it's not advisable to plant them in the same spot partly because of the potential for disease. Assuming you'll replace your strawberry plants after three years, you'll only need to start thinking about a new place to put them for 2016.

Hope that helps/clears things up :)