Mary, my best friend who is also my neighbor has given me some potato planting materials and I planted them in one plot in our small garden about a month ago. She said that I have to bury the whole plant and cover all of it with soil and that it would take two weeks before the plants will emerge from the soil. But first, I have to prepare the plot and put some chicken manure in the holes and cover it thinly with soil then leave it there for two days before planting. However, I did not have any composted chicken manure so I did not put in any. Knowing that she is a farmer and she comes from a farming community, she knows what she is talking about so I followed the rest of her advise even if I did not use any chicken manure.
In two weeks time, sure enough, the potato plants did come out just like she said they would. When my friend Mary came for a visit yesterday, she noticed that my potato plants were growing tall but my raised bed was not enough. She advised me to do some top dressing on the plants and to raise it to about 1-foot high so the potato plants will have enough room to grow and to put some fertilizer on the plants. Since I read on the Internet that rabbit manure can be applied directly on the plants as fertilizer without it burning the plants, so I took some aged rabbit manure from my compost bin and applied about 1 inch around the stems of the potatoes but not directly touching the plants. Then I covered these with 6 inches of top soil which I took from the vacant plot so the flies will not get into the manure. It rained this afternoon as soon as I finished working in the garden so I didn't have to do the watering myself. This is the rainy season here now in the Philippines and I just hope that my potatoes will survive the rains.
A picture of the potato plot above. The structure on the left side with a plastic cover is the outdoor aviary and further beyond is the chicken run with some of the chickens roosting on the branches.
In two weeks time, sure enough, the potato plants did come out just like she said they would. When my friend Mary came for a visit yesterday, she noticed that my potato plants were growing tall but my raised bed was not enough. She advised me to do some top dressing on the plants and to raise it to about 1-foot high so the potato plants will have enough room to grow and to put some fertilizer on the plants. Since I read on the Internet that rabbit manure can be applied directly on the plants as fertilizer without it burning the plants, so I took some aged rabbit manure from my compost bin and applied about 1 inch around the stems of the potatoes but not directly touching the plants. Then I covered these with 6 inches of top soil which I took from the vacant plot so the flies will not get into the manure. It rained this afternoon as soon as I finished working in the garden so I didn't have to do the watering myself. This is the rainy season here now in the Philippines and I just hope that my potatoes will survive the rains.
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