GARDENS IN TAUPO

Taupo Times, Volume II, Issue 90, 9 October 1953, Page 6

GARDENS IN TAUPO

THE NOT-SO-HUMBLE POTATO

(By

Flora)

au one ume tne potato was; classed as humble, but it has surely outgrown this belittling name. It has been a most elusive customer the last few years and by all accounts the shortage will continue for another year at least. Because of this it has become one of the most important crops in our gardens, and I do hope you have obtained your seed potatoes for this year's planting.

The potato is a perennial which dies to the ground each year if left to its own devices. The tuber popularly called a useed" is an underground stem, and the eyes on it are equivilent to the leaf buds on the stem of a fruit tree. The real potato seed is small and white and is found embedded in the green pulp of the fruit or potato apple. Not every plant sets seeds, due to the lack of pollen, the stamens having degenerated.

Manuring. No crop responds more readily to a liberal supply of fertiliser. You may use any of the following mixtures. It is quite interesting to experiment, a different mixture for a different row. There is a special potato fertiliser that ean be bought ready mixed, or you may mix the following, 3 parts blood and bone, 3 parts superphosphate and 1 part sulphate of potash. The last ingredient is especially required, for it is intimately connect-

ed with the manufacture of starch, which constitutes the great bulk of the tuber. If you have no potash incorporate dry wood ash, at the rate of 6ozs. per square yard. Fish manure is also excellent. A few weeks before planting the "seed" potatoes should be placed in shallow trays to sprout, store in a light airy shed away from direct sunlight. The object of sprouting is to secure a few weeks groWth before planting takes place. Sprouted potatoes are therefore ready to be lifted several weeks earlier than those planted unsprouted.

Planting. Incorporate what fertiliser you are using in the top twelve inches of soil. Take out drills about nine inches deep and two feet apart. In the bottom place three or four inches of compost (How that word predominates in our Taupo work!) tread the trench firmly and place the potatoes 9 inches apart, perhaps slightly more for a main crop. Should the tubers be very large it is possible to cut them into two or three pieces. But be sure that there are at least two "eyes" on each piece, and plant immediately after cutting. When the plants are five or six inches high commence earthing them up. But should there be a risk of frost this may be done earlier. In fact you may save a crop by completely covering the leaves. When to plant is certainly a difflcult question in Taupo, as at no time are we rid of the frost menace. It is quite a good ideal to plant a few rows before mid-October, leaving the main crop to be put in about that time. The growing season will be too short if the planting is left too late, especially should we experience a dry summer.