Oh Chit! A gardening technique for taters

[Tsiyu]

So I'm perusing the web after spending a bit of time surveying and weeding the garden today.

I am now trying a method called "chitting" the seed potatoes.

This involves setting each tater - sprout side up - in an egg carton section and setting in a cool - not freezing but not too warm - and indirectly lit spot (I have them on a small chest next to a window with muslin curtains.)

They should sprout green rather than white shoots and give me a headstart before setting them in the ground. It takes a couple of weeks, which is right in line for when I should plant. I have red pontiac and yukon gold seed potatoes.

Here's just one website on the technique. I'll let you know how it works.

http://www.raisedbedgardener.com/vegetable-tasks/potatoes/potatoes-containers-chit.htm

A bonus today - saw the neighbor girl drive her little pony cart past my place. Too cute! The pony is a character who visits often. He seemed to enjoy bobbing down the road. But he better stay out of the garden this year!

[Denninmi]

1. I did that by accident in the spring of 2010

I hauled all of my seed potatoes out to my greenhouse, and arranged them in open flats and put them on the bench. I had the intention of getting them planted within a few days, but events prevented me from getting them in the ground for close to a month. So, they sat there and made nice green, compact shoots.

Honestly, I don't think it made a lot of difference in terms of the end result, but at least they weren't sitting in the dark rotting in a paper bag.

[Tsiyu]

3. Who knew, right?

I guess it's a common practice in the uk, probably because of the humidity?

It's really humid here, too, so like you said, better than letting them rot - which does happen some years

despite our best intentions.

[NEOhiodemocrat]

2. Interesting

I will be watching for your update on how it works out.

[Tsiyu]

4. Thanks NEOd

It's always fun to find out about a new way to do something early for the garden.

[ge26252se]

5. hmmm

[HopeHoops]

6. Fuck that noise. Just direct plant them. They do fine on their own.

I dense plant and have what looks like a hedge in June. They always produce more than we can eat in a season. We still have some from this past season ( most from the "seeds" from the previous season) and just ate some three nights ago.

[Tsiyu]

7. Well allrighty den!

It's too early now, the ground is too mucky and I have to work in a lot of compost and I didn't want to just leave them in the bags for weeks.

Have done that before (if you don't get the good ones early they are gone around here but then half sometimes go bad before you can plant)

So it's a fun little thing to do for me.

Plus I like the word "chit." "I am chitting! Chit on you! Aw, go take a chit!"

[HopeHoops]

8. Three words: Johnney's Selected Seeds (Albion, Maine)

[Tsiyu]

9. They do send me a catolog

This year, I am using up EBT benefits (since I am soon to get a real paycheck, won't need them anymore) to purchase seed.

Note to lurkers: I have qualified for EBT for YEARS (and have also paid taxes for years,) but have not chosen to sign up out of pride and such. This year, after seeing a news report of some people living in a mansion and using SNAP, and after talking to a teabagger family who were on food stamps, I decided I would get a bailout, too. I had absolutely NO income at all.

If the oil companies and GE and Wall Street can get subsidies, so can the Tsiyu. Turns out without it I might have starved while looking for a job for months. I appreciate the fact that I got some minimal help unlike the bankers, who got a maximum infusion of help. Now I have a job, and probably still qualify, but I won't use them if I am making my own living - again, out of pride.

So I have some $$$ left and seeds and food plants are covered. I don't think Johnny's would accept the payment method....

[HopeHoops]

10. They accept checks and money orders.

[Tsiyu]

11. And when the direct deposit hits

I will have both of those.

Today, though I've been working a few weeks, not so much. It takes a while to get the first full check and also my tax refund is running late. Waiting on both. Til then, I hate to admit it, but I am muy poor.

Today, they shut the power off. I started crying but what can I do? But then the man who works for the co-op came back and asked if I could borrow any from a friend. "I'm gonna give you a few hours, and cut the power back on for you." Mercy is alive and well in TN. He is my hero today.

I called a dear friend and borrowed enough to keep the power on.

I'm glad that most on DU aren't struggling like I am. It's been a tough six months. But I refuse to get depressed - much. And I still am planning a garden. I am grateful that the EBT program helps with a home garden. It makes sense, when you think of all the Big Ag subsidies, to also help the Puny Ag operators! So even the very poor are able to grow their own if they have the space and the physical strength.

Count your blessings if you aren't in the same boat

[HopeHoops]

12. Been there, done that. Didn't get the T-shirt because I couldn't afford it.

[Tsiyu]

13. lol

It sucks, but there are people who are hurting so much worse than me.

I count my own meager blessings every day, and people on DU - like femrap who has helped me out, or Howler, who has kept me cheered up.

One hates to admit to poverty, but people should know the truth about it. There are not enough jobs to go around and even when you find one, you can be so far behind it takes a while to catch up.

I'm glad you're doing better now

[HopeHoops]

14. Well, I can't get a steady job because I have "too much experience" - cost too much.

I do okay with temporary gigs, but I would really prefer a full-time job. The problem is that I'm in the $100K+ range by experience and the companies are all looking for $30K workers. They know I'm over-qualified. I get contract work through connections. I'd really like a steady job. And fuck the 30K workers. I can do more work in a day than fifteen of them (no slight intended toward the younger crowd, but it's true). That's not how the bean counters think. They don't know shit about the profession. It's like a priest running a whore house - no clue.

On Edit: Alter boys don't count.

[Tsiyu]

15. Oh, don't I know it

You are so dead on.

I like being efficient and usually outwork everyone around me, but apparently this is not a job requirement in today's workplace. Accepting shit wages and passing a drug screen are THE only job requirements these days.

I have a temp gig til June, but I am self-directed (no boss onsite), the work is enjoyable and is not so exhausting (I am learning to slow down since my efficiency worked against me in the past) so I have time and energy to write and paint and play music as well.

My nerves are shot to hell, so I am not relaxed enough to have actually done much of the above creative work (sent a final draft of a manuscript yesterday, but the editor had already paid me for that article so I was motivated) while I await some $$$$

Once I feel more secure, I'm hoping I will be able to resume being creative rather than wondering how to keep the wolves away. I hpoe something good breaks for you soon.

My bro is a tech writer and just works as a consultant on contract in NYC, and makes the big bucks. Have you thought about consultant work? Make your own company?

[HopeHoops]

16. LOL! Oh yeah. That's all I do now. Consulting and my own company.

I needed some human contact a few years back so I spent three years running a handyman business. I didn't make very much, but I did have challenges (which I like) and a lot of interaction with people from all spectrums. I was in mansions and in the worst parts of Harrisburg and everything in between. I did electrical, plumbing, drywall, wood work, flooring, and pretty much anything I thought I was capable of handling on my own. If I wasn't confident that I could do it, I turned down the job - including one that would have netted me about $40K.

In one case, a woman had a "broken screen door". She was an elderly woman in a very small house. All it needed was a screw to hold the return bar in place. I had one that fit and it took about five minutes. I refused to accept money from her and she wanted to give me a bunch of peaches that she had peeled and sliced. I graciously refused those as well. Sometimes it just isn't right to take money or anything else for doing something. That's the way humans should be.

[Tsiyu]

17. I agree with you there

If everybody helped where they're able without always expecting something in return, imagine how much better things would be. I do a lot of freebie stuff, and actually had one rabid rightwing boss tell me how foolish I was for babysitting for a friend for nothing so she could take some college classes. I had to walk away from the job I was doing for this guy one fateful afternoon because he started screaming all sorts of obscenities at me for being a "liberal." I honestly think he was messed up with the pain pills he was eating like candy. He was so nasty, a sexual harrasser big time (I won't even repeat some of the ugliness it was that bad.)

That was three years ago. A couple months ago, his historic home caught fire in the wiring, and burnt to the ground. I didn't gloat, but I damned sure didn't feel sorry for the jerk.

As for employment, there are a lot of us - like you and me - doing all sorts of work we never expected to do, but that's the "new reality." What else you gonna do?

I haven't had the luxury of ANY unemployment compensation, so, like you, I had to just keep looking for anything legal that would pay the bills. If not for my family and friends, I might be in the poorhouse AND the nuthouse

Keep on keepin' on!

It's been enjoyable chatting with you about "taters an' setch."

[HopeHoops]

18. Yeah, I thought about becoming a hooker but I look like Tommy Chong, not a chick.

It just wouldn't have worked out. I've always been a computer geek at heart. Some things will never change. I love doing woodworking, but there's a very low ROI for the time and materials. I do it anyway. My favorite tool is the scroll saw, but I've made puzzles with the band saw (96" bands) and I've also got a full-size drill press, 2' radial arm saw, a disc/belt sander, miter saw, and a grinder/polisher along with a shitload of smaller power and air tools and those hand-held things we just call "tools".

[Tsiyu]

19. Some people are making money doing little chicken houses

http://chattanooga.craigslist.org/grd/2868039193.html

Sounds like you have the tools for that. A lot more folks are housing a few hens, and want something portable and lightweight and nice-looking. You could do them with gingerbread.

I wish I had the skills and space to do fine woodworking.

[HopeHoops]

20. I could wear a white shirt with a tie and a plaid skirt.

If I could find them in my size, that is.

[Tsiyu]

21. Trade a chicken palace to the local farm seamstress!

You could advertise the chicken houses on local access TV wearing your kilt.

Have a crazy-colored rooster as your sidekick.

You could go places in poultry construction/manskirts.

[HopeHoops]

22. Except that I'm vegetarian - minor detail.

[Tsiyu]

23. Well, hens can be raised for eggs

In fact, that's what most are raised for on a small scale.

So you can wear that kilt with clear conscience as you become the King of the Chicken Condo World.

(And chicken poo is awesome for veggie fertilizer.)