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Q. In several different directions I’ve read for preparing plots for planting vegetables in coastal gardens, the advice is to add compost, fertilizer, and lime “except for potatoes.” Why no lime for potatoes?
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A. An organism that lives in many soils is scab, a disease that mars the appearance of potatoes, though it does not affect the yield. When developing tubers become infected, their response is to form unsightly corky tissue on the skins. The scabby blemishes are shallow. Harvested tubers remain edible with the removal of the affected skin areas.
Conditions favouring infections are light-textured, sandy soils that tend to be alkaline, especially if they become warm and dry in summer.
Scab can be limited or avoided by ensuring the soil is kept slightly to moderately acidic by not using lime, which raises pH (acid-alkaline) levels toward or into the alkaline range.
To help ensure a hearty soil texture and improve moisture retention, add plenty of compost ahead of planting. Coconut fibre (coir) added to very light, fast-draining soils further enhances moisture retention and acts as a buffer against temperature extremes.
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As temperatures rise and the soil warms, mulch generously around the plants with loose layers of leaves or straw, to shade and cool the soil and the developing potato tubers.
Q. Have you ever grown overwintering cauliflower? If you have, how successful does the planting usually turn out to be and what variety do you prefer?
A. I don’t grow this vegetable every year, but past plantings of Purple Cape have always produced beautiful cauliflower heads in March and early April. My usual source for this variety, Salt Spring Seeds, does not have it on their current listings. It does list Galleon, which produces beautiful white heads in April and May.
A mid-June indoor seeding and transplanting in early August is recommended. I start the seeds a bit earlier, in late May, because my garden’s conditions foster slightly slower growth than in fully open gardens with all-day sunshine.
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