Jupiter Ranch

2010-07-03T07:24:00.000-07:00

2010-07-02T20:47:00.000-07:00

2010-07-02T20:42:00.000-07:00

And a few weeks have past............. and suddenly out of curiosity I got my little shovel out and Voila... 60 lbs of potatoes later....... It was a huge surprise and was under the impression that this could not be for real... the potato hunt is to me very similar to the Easter egg hunt...... What fun!!

2010-05-03T06:38:00.000-07:00

April 25^th

This past weekend was almost a month since I planted the seed potatoes. I was expecting to see something green reaching for the surface a while back. Patience was running short and I was curious to find out how the seeds were doing. Along with a friend of mine who visited on the weekend, we walked to the potato patch with a spade shovel and dog a potato!!! Surprise! It was fantastic to see that the potato eyes had turned into long arms reaching out for light! Quelle surprise!

Now I will go to the garden religiously every morning to search for the little plant. I don’t know what I’m looking for but I trust that I will recognize it when I see it!!

April 27^th 2010

Finally, today some of the plants have reached the surface! Such good news. I am delighted and want to tell the world but I hear that growing potato is really not a big deal and it is the easiest thing to grow…

May 2nd 2010

So many new plants are coming up and they all look so healthy. I am now working on the automatic irrigation system with simple drip hose as it is the most economical system and the simplest to use. My potato patch will be watered with the rain collection system stored in 7500 gallons tanks. Everything is in place for a great crop!

2010-04-23T07:23:00.000-07:00

2010-04-23T07:22:00.000-07:00

[Photo]Waiting patiently.
I have been counting the days since the potato planting and I am now checking for signs of life on a daily basis... I have no idea what I am looking for but trust that I will recognize a potato plant when I see one! So far I have seen a lot of grass growing. I am hoping that the straw I have put between the rows will keep the moisture in the soil and reduce the weeding time.

2010-03-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

March 28,

Potato seeds are in the ground. After much research on trying to find the method that would best suit me on how to plant my potatoes, I finally select the trenching method. I had ordered many pounds of organic potato seeds from West Coast Seed and to my surprise a couple of days later I found two little white and red cards in my mailbox, indicating that two boxes were waiting for me at the Gabriola Post Office.

I rushed to the post office with excitement and anticipation in my little Smart Car. I soon found out that one of the two boxes was too big for the clerk to carry, so I had to meet her at the loading dock, a place I have never been in 17 years of living on island! I’m talking small Smart Car… How will I fit this box in the “trunk”? A photo is worth a thousand words… and I should of taken one!

Fortunately the loading dock is out of the public eye… so I think!

I had a boxing match with the large, oh so large box of potato seeds. I did win the match and off to the Ranch we went with a car loaded with pounds of potatoes and a perma grin! Trying to order the right amount of potato seeds was a huge challenge and I couldn’t find out a miracle formula in my research.

So this time I forget my “Less is More” moto and opt for the “The More the Merrier” formula.

On each of the little potato seed box, carefully placed in a larger box, was a sticker saying “Cut Open Immediately”, and I’m thinking “then what???”. Back to the drawing board for more research as I’m not ready to plant the potato seeds as they did arrive a bit prematurely and I haven’t even started the trenches and I don’t even know if the eyes of the potato go up or down or will I cut the potato seeds and if so do I have the space to lay all the potato seeds on tables to let them build callus before planting .I also have to decide if I will cover the little boxes to keep them out of the light and place them in a cool spot with constant temperature, or will I leave them in the warm studio with lots of light and sun so they can burst more eyes? Again, so many different methods and everyone is an expert! My number one goal is to get help to dig the trenches and leave the potatoes and myself in the dark for a couple of days….

So far I know that a box of 2.5kg of potato seeds contains between 34 and 50 potatoes of all sizes. A potato seed requires 12” X 12” of space and the rows need 3’ to 3.5’ between them. My garden is 50’x 100’ I did the math many times and the reality is at time overwhelming!

Weather is perfect on Gabriola and I do find help to dig the trenches and two days later I have planted about 400 potato plants and 170 Gladiolus. Now I can loose sleep and wonder if Gladiolus are compan

POTATO POTATO

2010-03-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

March 28th 2010

Time to garden at Jupiter Ranch. A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine arrived with his tractor and plowed a new garden. Six hours after he started working, I was still running behind the tractor picking rocks in my red gumboots covered in stinky, sticky mock i.e. chicken poop (known as manure...). Ten yards of manure...

Eight hours later, exhausted, stinky and happy, I looked in awe at the beautiful blank canvas... what would I plant? What could I plant?

The garden is 100 x 40 feet!

My knowledge about gardening is next to nil, however, fortunately when I started to do some research on line I soon found out that everyone is an expert! So I am planting potatoes. Best first crop.

Off Season Specials at Jupiter Ranch

2010-02-17T07:54:00.000-08:00

Great off season packages and prices!

http://www.jupiterranch.com/Specials.html