Memorial Day Weekend Gardening...    

May 26... I planted the potatoes and onions.  




Kind of as a last minute decision, I decided to plant a few potatoes and onions.  I saw some Walla Walla onion seedlings at a local nursery and the the owner of the nursery said that he plants them every year and they do well here... so I decided to plant some.


I had not been intending to plant potatoes.  I used to grow them when I lived in Idaho and enjoyed the taste of really fresh new potatoes.  With the garden space that I had planned out I wasn't sure I had the space to devote to them.  However, I had been reading online about different kinds of potatoes and was intrigued when I read about the Makah Ozette potato.  


The Makah Ozette potato came from Peru by  way of Spanish explorers to the Makah Indians at Neah Bay, Washington in the late 1700's.  Apparently they have been growing this potato in their private gardens ever since.  It is considered a fingerling potato since it is pretty small.  I had never heard of it before and I was so interested in the story behind the potato, that I decided to plant a few.  


I searched online and it was not that easy to find a source!  One of my favorite seed companies, Nichols Garden Seeds in Oregon was sold out, as were other companies.  Finally I found some and ordered one pound.  


Here is how I planted them.


First I dug a trench for the potatoes.  

Then I sprinkled in some 10-10-10 fertilizer. 

 Then added a little more soil back in and placed the potatoes on top... spacing them about 9" apart.  

Then I covered them over with about 3" of soil.  

I bought the Wall Walla onion starts, already planted in a four-pack, from Adams nursery in Williston, Vermont.  

I dug in some of the 10-10-10 fertilizer into the area where I was going to plant the onions.  Then after I smoothed it all over with a rake I planted the little tiny onions. 

Here's what the bed looked like after the potatoes and onions were planted.

This Girl Gardens!