We are slowly making more garden beds in the 1/2 acre field where we garden. This spring has been so wet, we didn't get a chance to till earlier in the season. I had some big sheets of plastic and I remembered Eliot Coleman talking about using plastic to kill sod in one of his books, so I laid down the plastic and weighted down all the edges with boards. The total area was about 20x25 feet. The kids loved playing in the resulting puddles on the plastic.

The plastic stayed in place for several weeks- maybe 4 or 5. Last week we took off the plastic intending to till up the dead grass. Not surprisingly the soil was too wet to till. I wanted to get something in the ground there before grass and weeds came back and I remembered the 50 pound bag of Kennebec potato sets that I bought in a spring-fever-frenzy back in March. Julian was really excited to plant them so we decided to make the whole plot a potato patch. Here's our first-ever Little Farm video- Julian's explaining what he is working on. I didn't realize until I watched the video that Avery is answering my questions as well. Cute, but it's kind of hard to hear what the kids are saying. We will have to work on our production more carefully next time. 

He and Avery laid down whole potatoes 12-15" apart in rows that were 3 feet apart. Then we covered the sets with straw. We used a total of two bales of straw. Because potatoes set their fruit above the planted set we will have to add lots more straw, I am planning on at least a bale per row. The soil in the bed is solid clay, so the extra organic matter will be great for the soil anyway. Last year we did have some trouble with mice in a potato bed that was planted this way, but this will be in a more open part of the garden, so I am hoping mice won't be as brave. Also, we still got plenty of potatoes, and the ease in planting makes up for the reduced yields. 

The boys were very pleased with themselves for finishing the job, I was surprised that they stuck with the whole project. Thumbs up! (Avery can't quite do that yet...)

Then Julian and I spread out the plastic sheets next to the planted potatoes, I might plant late potatoes, I still have at least 20 pounds of sets left. 

Eventually this bed will be about 25x50 feet, I am thinking about planting winter wheat there this fall.