Potato Status

When I planted the potatoes, I dug trenches and only partially filled them in, leaving the trenches 4" or so below the rest of the garden level and the extra dirt was left mounded up along the side. The idea is to let the plants grow up a ways and then fill the trenches in, covering the bottom 4" of stems. Some people say that this promotes additional potato growth since potatoes grow off of the underground portion of the stems. My potatoes are growing very well and are about 18" high, so I've been meaning to fill in the stems for a few days. This morning I noticed that some of the potatoes are actually growing flower buds. I think that last year my plants started growing potatoes right around the time that some of them grew flowers, so it definately was time to push in the dirt. I also used the opportunity to direct the plants away from the nearby lettuce. Here is what they look like after I filled in the trenches.
While I was pushing all the dirt around the stems of the potatoes, I was amazed at the amount of creatures living in the dirt. There were a few slugs, spiders, and grubs and lots of worms, centipedes, and other creatures. Some of those things may not necesarily be good for the plants, but I guess it means that there is a lot of nutrients in the dirt feeding this thriving underground ecosystem.

This year's broccoli and cauliflower bed was last year's potato bed. In a couple spots, potatoes have sprung up. One was a tiny, weak looking plant that must have come from a tiny little potato that I missed during harvest last year. I pinched that off a couple times and it hasn't come back since. The other one was a pair of pretty sizeable stalks. I felt bad killing this relatively vigorous plant, so its still growing and is now starting to overshadow one of the cauliflower plants. I was thinking about letting it grow and killing off the cauliflower plant that wasn't growing very well, but last year my broccoli didn't due much till the late summer. Sadly, I think the potato plant is going to have to be removed. You can see the little cauliflower plant there at the base of the potatoes.