We are planting our potato crop. Sharing some tips, gardening with kids. We plant 8 inches apart about 4 inches deep. When the plants grow about 6 to 8 inches tall we start to hill up the sides. See a more about our row maker and spacers in this vid. Homestead Series Making Row Spacers www.youtube.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Just thought I’d do a little video of my husband’s latest project, incase anyone else might be contemplating the same — perhaps this will be helpful to them. Tim took pity on me having to literally spend hours hand-watering the garden, so he bought a little gas-powered water pump. BUT — mechanically-challenged as I am, I wasn’t really comfortable with not having the good, old-fashioned hand pump (that I knew I could operate LOL). So, he decided to drive a second point down and outfit that one with the new pump. You can never have too many wells in a crisis you know. Who knows — I may have the neighborhood coming over at some point and filling water containers. . .
Video Rating: 4 / 5
August 13th, 2012 at 4:55 am
nice video again. thanks.
August 13th, 2012 at 5:48 am
Thanks for the information on planting potatoes.
August 13th, 2012 at 6:42 am
Get some organic grown potatoes from a nearby farm or homestead.
August 13th, 2012 at 7:22 am
Potatoes you buy from the store usually is treated with chemicals aimed to keep it from growing or to slow down its growth. I experimented with potatoes from stores and seed potatoes and the seed potatoes performed far better. The store potatoes did sprout but the plants were small and weak and didn’t do well at all.
August 13th, 2012 at 7:55 am
Great stuff. Ok, maybe a newbie question, but can I just buy a potatoe from my local grocery store at plant it? Do I need a special type of seed potatoe? Thanks for any help.
August 13th, 2012 at 8:16 am
ok its hard to say but about 1lbs planted seems to give about 5lbs back the big garden your seeing is the whites and i expect to get about 1200 -1500lbs from that hope this helps
August 13th, 2012 at 9:15 am
I backtracked your vid’s trying to find out how much you planted to get the yield shown in the root cellar video. I see you have a large area, but can you let me know about how many lbs you planted to get the harvest you did? We go through about 20 lbs of potato’s a week, so your numbers seem to be right in line with what I should be planting, lol. Your getting great results, mind me asking what varieties? Like you, we use a lot more whites than reds. I prefer my reds as new potatoes. Thx!
August 13th, 2012 at 9:20 am
I’m doing the same thing in collapsible lawn and leaf bags. Have four planted and coming up and have two more to do.
I read an article on using straw mixed with compost to cover them as they come up (From the Backwoodshome magazine site) and I’m going to do that with them. I hope to do a video on it as it’s a potato experiment this year. I am lean on growing ground around our house, so any way I can save on space, I’ll try.
August 13th, 2012 at 9:27 am
Excellent and informative video about growing potatoes. One thing I would like to add for those who have very little space…you too can grow your own spuds!! Pick and area that gets full sun or at least 6 hours of sun a day. Start with one tire, fill with soil (not too much organic matter as this may cause your spuds to form “scab”) plant your spuds, 3 pieces per tire. As the vines grow, add another tire on top and fill with soil. Can go 3 to 4 tires high. To harvest, kick the tires over!
August 13th, 2012 at 9:35 am
Thanks for the valuable info. I appreciate it.
August 13th, 2012 at 10:27 am
2-4 months…depending on variety and climate. However, the dying of the vines is your best indicator. Don’t forget to “hill up” your spuds as the vines are growing! The spuds form along those vines under the earth.
You can harvest some before the vines die, for some yummy small “pot roast” spuds as I call them, they will be small and tender, perfect for cooking with a pot roast!
August 13th, 2012 at 10:32 am
Great information for a potato-planting rookie like me, hehe. Thanks Ebola…
If is not too much to ask, how long approximately takes to harvest the potatoes? How many months or weeks? Thanks. ;}
August 13th, 2012 at 11:02 am
Wait until the vines have yellowed and are dying…then CAREFULLY dig up your spuds, being careful not to cut them, any that get cut by your shovel need to be eaten asap. Lay your harvested potatoes UNWASHED on a layer of newspapers in the shade for a day, do not wash them! Just gently brush the soil off the spuds. After 24 hour shade curing, they can be stored in a cool dark place. Do NOT wash your potatoes until right before you are going to cook them. Washing them makes them rot.
August 13th, 2012 at 11:03 am
Great idea with the spacer for the kids! I need to involve my girls (about the same age as yours ) in the garden more. They’re game, but Momma needs to be less of a perfectionist (okay, okay, ANAL) about her garden. : )
August 13th, 2012 at 11:54 am
I planted about a dozen potatoes this year. I hope they produce potatoes. What is the best way to remove them when they are ready to pick, when they are in a plane ground area like that? How you get them out without damaging them?
August 13th, 2012 at 12:48 pm
thats good to know much appreciated
August 13th, 2012 at 1:12 pm
last year i used potatoes that started growing the composter
August 13th, 2012 at 1:53 pm
there was an old gas one near our garden when we bought the place, but we need to drive a new point down. It should only be 15′ at most. We have a 12′ wide creek flowing thru our property with a spring, so water should be easy to find. We want to drive another one in the field between our corn and potatoe fields yet for irrigation.
August 13th, 2012 at 2:28 pm
very low water table.there
August 13th, 2012 at 3:14 pm
good job
August 13th, 2012 at 3:23 pm
Excellent job guys! thanks much for posting this.my father has since passed away but we had talked about putting in a sandpoint for the garden.you may have rekindled something in me to try putting one in.thanks again
August 13th, 2012 at 4:09 pm
Well thank you very much! You must be a nice person yourself for leaving such a nice message. : )
August 13th, 2012 at 4:48 pm
Nice video; I plan on doing this on my own property in Wisconsin and was looking for some guidance. You all seem like such nice people!
August 13th, 2012 at 5:25 pm
Well, we had an advantage in that when we were putting down fence posts in that area, we hit water a few times. Also, there is a natural wetlands just behind the garden with open water year round. So, we knew the water table was pretty high back there. All you can do is try where you think is a good spot to hit water. You could try to find a water witch person. My Dad was a well driller/farmer and he could water witch but unfortunately lost the ability as he got older.
August 13th, 2012 at 5:50 pm
how do you know were to put in one how do u find the water? i would love to have 1 for my garden great video also
August 13th, 2012 at 6:06 pm
What’s old is new again. : )
August 13th, 2012 at 6:58 pm
OLD SCHOOL
August 13th, 2012 at 7:31 pm
We all have grabbed a drink out of the back wells over the last couple of years, (especially the one with the hand pump) as is, with no ill effects. We have them primarily to water the garden, but they would definitely serve as a potable water source iif necessary.
August 13th, 2012 at 7:36 pm
If you pump the water out and then pour the water in one of those filter systems like the brita, would it be drinkable? Or do you have to boil it first before drinking it?
August 13th, 2012 at 7:52 pm
What we have with the two well points works very well for our purpose of watering the garden. You are right — the hand pump IS way too easy to operate. There is no irrigation line — there is just a single hose, sometimes with a sprinkler attached. The gas powered pump works great to send water through it. These are SHALLOW wells used sporadically to water a garden. Water demand, in this situation, does not require a pressurized tank system like one would have in their home.
August 13th, 2012 at 7:57 pm
Thank you and your family for sharing with us. Your vids really inspire our family, God bless you and yours !
August 13th, 2012 at 7:59 pm
but dang it, I’ve forgotten so much. I was just a youngin’. TY again, love learning from all you good folk, even if ya laugh at me
I’m immune to stick n stones.. lol 
jk there.. okay?
August 13th, 2012 at 8:06 pm
My problem is, I have lots of bits n pieces of old wisdom that I learned from my dad 45 years ago, but back then, we didn’t have things like the tapper thingy (lol) if they were available, we couldn’t afford them.. I do know it by that name, just didn’t know how it looked! My neighbor has one.I won’t even have to buy one! TY for sharing, I’m just trying to touch with my “old/almost gone” roots and do things I enjoy n want to do more of (again).
August 13th, 2012 at 8:49 pm
The tapper thingy (smile — ahh, you speak my native tongue) is a fence post driver, available at any farm store like TSC. And yes, he used it to add more lengths of pipe. Do keep in mind we have rather sandy, soft soil. No clay, no hardpan, a few rocks here and there.
August 13th, 2012 at 9:24 pm
ps..great lil’ helper you have there! Is she for rent?
August 13th, 2012 at 10:17 pm
Wow, water at 8′ lucky you! He made that looked pretty darn easy excluding the manual labor/post hole diggers..lol What is the tapper thingy called that he use to hammer it down?? And was that used to tap down the other joint he added as well?? Darn, wish yall had shown it, just so I would know what we face ahead. Thanks for sharing this vid. I feel inspired! Will add this to my top 5 things to do. I REALLY want to get chickens, but I need to learn more yet,. Thanks again!
August 13th, 2012 at 10:30 pm
I like it very well.
August 13th, 2012 at 10:59 pm
Yes, that’s correct.
August 13th, 2012 at 11:54 pm
You’ll probably have no trouble finding water in your location, but the shallower the well, the more you have to watch for and the more tendency for water quality problems. Not always, but something to keep in mind. As for what sort of electric pump to buy — that depends on the depth, pipe diameter, and gallons per minute your well produces. They come in sizes according to power (1/2 horse, 1 horse, etc.) Buying bigger than what you need is a no no — you’ll pull in debris.
August 14th, 2012 at 12:29 am
Im assuming if you hit a rock or cant get to the water table then you cant get it out and try somewhere else?
August 14th, 2012 at 1:16 am
Thanks, I live in New Zealand, my property is 250m from a sandy beach and the soil on the surface ( 3ft but hopefully much deeper!) is light peat/sand the water table is around 6 ft deep. it costs $5500+ to put down a 4″ professional bore about 27ft and i dont want to spend that much -im thinking this could be an option ? what sort of electric pump is best to draw up the water? is one of those hand pumps required to get the water running clear before running the electric pump?
August 14th, 2012 at 1:39 am
Electric pumps are usually what is used on most wells, especially deep wells. However, in this location, electricity isn’t an option. As far as how deep one can go by hand — it really depends on the soil you are going through coupled with the determination of the person doing the drilling. In heavy clay or rocky soils, drilling by hand is going to be much more problematic than the sandy soil we are blessed with.