March 17th, traditionally known as St. Patrick’s Day, has always been the kick-off to spring vegetable plantings. Many times I have stood in the muck (Ohio Spring Soil) and planted my peas and potatoes in the mire. The problem with our weather is that we still have a little more winter to come and plenty of rain that sits (or floods depending on where you are) on our rich clay soil. This, of course, makes the garden much harder to get into, and the whole gardening experience, well, not much fun!
I’ve grown some of my favorite Gardens Alive potatoes in grow bags this year, with much success!
This year I am going to try something different. It is supposed to be sunny and mild on St. Patrick’s Day (if you can trust our weather experts) so I am going to kick off the season by planting my peas and potatoes in Grow Tubs™; as well as raising a pint of Guinness! I can get most of the work done in my garage; filling the bags with soil and planting the seeds, and simply place the Grow Tubs on my patio. I will be the envy of my work colleagues and neighbours when I easily harvest fresh potatoes and peas earlier than anyone else.
The beauty with Grow Tubs and this early spring planting is that if and when we get the second coming of winter, I can easily protect my containers by either covering them up or just moving them into the shed or garage until it all passes. The potatoes and peas won’t rot in the early spring because the material that Grow Tubs are made from allows for passage of water and air. The black material should also aid in heating the soil when the sun does shine. I will update you as to how the St. Patrick’s Day Grow Tubs are doing as the season progresses.
Cheers and Happy St. Paddy’s Day.
Keep Growing! Craig
I started with a test variety of potatoes and our Gardens Alive! Miragreen peas.