E Nordlie

Interesting combination of potatoes and corn, I would have thought the potatoes would be ready to harvest some time before the corn? And the distance between the corn and the potatoes too small to avoid disturbing the corn roots while harvesting potatoes? 1 m is seems a good distance, but two feet I would be nervous. How do you get this to work?

Anne Miller wrote:The way I look at this is why have one plant when you can have ten?

If it works for you, why not have ten indeed! I may actually try a side by side comparison next season (too late for this year), I am really curious now. Like I said, I *believe* whole seed potatoes may result in plants that grow faster at the start of the season, which at the very least should give them an edge over any weeds.

On my list for next year! Just need to figure out how much area I can plant with potatoes. Would be an even better experiment with several cultivars..

I have assumed that seed potatoes here in Norway are never cut, but I have to admit I don't actually know what large scale growers do. I've just never seen or heard of anyone doing it in a gardening context, and assume that it is too time consuming and expensive (labor cost) on a commercial farm. Neither of which really say anything of the actual ability of cut seed potatoes to grow productive plants.

I know this is an old post, and it is seems unlikely that there will be more conclusive answers now than before, but just out of curiosity - has anyone here really tried a side by side comparison? Here in Norway it seems to be standard practice to plant whole seed potatoes. The idea that "one eye equals one plant" may be true, but I am pretty sure several eyes also equals one plant - I have always planted whole seed potatoes, and even if they have several growth points/eyes/sprouts, these never seem to result in separate plants. When they are pulled, all stems and all roots join in one point, where the remains of the seed potato are found if present at all.
Whether a plant growing from one eye on a cut seed potato piece will be as productive as a plant growing from several eyes on a whole seed potato, I do not really know, but intuitively several growth points seems likely to result in more leaf area (at least at the start of the season), resulting in faster plant development. Maybe this possible initial difference actually doesn't matter in the end? If there is a difference, it may be more noticeable where growing seasons are short, or weed pressure is higher?
Anyway, unless seed potatoes become really expensive I wouldn't want to cut them. It is extra work, after all, and must result in at least some increased risk of disease or rot.
Actually, maybe differences in  seed and labor costs and/or diseases present are the real reasons why seed potatoes are routinely cut in some parts of the world but not others.

Last spring I found that I had overdone the over winter mulch, and when I removed it to start planting the soil was still frozen - I think it was about this date, or very close, and outside of the mulched beds the ground had thawed at least two weeks earlier. Ideally I would want some sort of mulch bin/crib/storage right next to the vegetable beds, where I could collect mulch as it was available, and also temporarily dump mulch from the beds during warm/sunny periods early in spring. The snow cover and winter temperatures vary too much here to feasibly mulch the beds thickly enough to not freeze.

Anyway, this year the (mostly leaf) mulch was not that thick, and I have taken most of it off and sowed mixed fava beans a couple of days ago. Yesterday I also planted some potatoes, and as an experiment I put two fava beans near each potato. It will be interesting to see how this works. Although these are supposed to be early potatoes, I think the favas will be harvestable when the potatoes are ready, or maybe a bit earlier. I much prefer green favas to dried, so although I need to have an area planted with favas that can be left until the seed is mature and dry, this only needs to be big enough to provide seed for next year and a little backup. And to ensure a bit of genetic variation is maintained.

Pole beans I may sow in a week or two, but I'm wary of covering the seeded beds with mulch like the OP does - I feel this would invite slugs and other pests at just the most critical time here. A little mulch when they are up and vining, however, has worked well before.

As a side note (not beans), I also sowed some peas along with oats as an experiment. Unlike the favas and potatoes, I won't necessarily eat either, the hope is they will contribute to soil health both as a break in the rotation and by adding organic material, and if enough grows it will make nice snacks for the hens.  

Some ant species will help spread aphids, and protect them against other insects. Might not be a problem where you live, though - maybe the ants are not an aphid-farming species, or the trees are not susceptible to aphids, or you have aphid predators that are not really deterred by ants. I think it would be a good idea to leave them be for a while to see what happens, rather than using vinegar or some other poison "just in case".

For what it's worth: I mentioned above that I spread some hair in the garden in the spring of 2023, and covered it with some other mulch (just a few centimeters of grass and weeds) - when I had a look last week I only found a few fragments. As in, more than 90 % of the hair was gone. The bits that I did find were partly broken down, sort of friable. Also, I paid extra attention when cleaning out two birdboxes just next to the vegetable garden earlier this spring, and found no hair.
So, at least in some conditions, hair will break down in a couple of years. How much nitrogen (or anything else) it contributes I have no idea, but I'll assume it is more than nothing! Also, it is another small thing which I can keep out of the garbage. It bothers me to send anything that could turn into soil away to be incinerated.

If the brown stuff is actually "mud" (fine silt, clay, other mineral matter?), shouldn't it be heavier than the starch, and settle first? Unless of course the "mud" particles are significantly smaller than the starch particles. Although I guess the fact that the starch sinks at all, and in *roughly* the same time frame as fine silt or clay (?) indicates it has similar weight. I have no idea how to begin researching particle size and weight for what presumably is not the most well known type of starch, but if someone here has any relevant experience that might be one way to find out what the different layers are. You could maybe also try to get a reasonably pure sample of the suspected mud and burn it, if it turns to ash it will at least be something organic rather than actual silt or clay.

It may be different where you live, but influenza vaccines are usually based on a number of strains of influenza, and give some degree of protection even against new mutations. It may be worth while to find out what local health authorities think about the potential protection available vaccines will give.

Since getting moderately ill is hard to see as a problem, and getting seriously ill is after all very unlikely, it is worth considering what lengths it is reasonable to go to to theoretically reduce the risk from very small to a tiny bit smaller. As somebody said (or implied anyway) above, whatever you do your risk will not be zero. Getting rid of your chickens seems excessive to me, unless you are seriously immunocompromised - in which case I too would worry more about other infections they could give you.

I'm digging all the way to China with a silver spoon
While the hangman fumbles with the noose

Just sitting in a stack, I am sure they host a lot of small creatures! The larger pieces could be used for stepping stones unless they are too thin. Even if they are thin, all but the smallest pieces can be used to border garden beds, or laid out to keep grass etc down along beds or around young trees. If there are a lot of small fragments they can be used as fill in drainage ditches and infiltration basins.