I will not be available for the Chat and Tea on October 24. There is a Sustainable Summit in town on that day that I will be participating in. I will be back for the Garden Planner workshop on the 25. If I hear y'all that you want to gather on the 24th, I'll leave it on the schedule. I will take it off the calendar if I don't hear anything before October 24. Happy Gardening

My friend wanted to try an experiment this year with her potatoes. She wanted to grow them in "milk crates". We did this to expand her garden space and got the crates for free. We planted 11 crates with about a gallon of seed potatoes (Around 3 pounds split between 3 varieties, Yukon Gold, Kennebec, and a red of unknown variety that we have been saving for 3 years. The Process: Line each crate with grassy hay and fill the center with potting mix. The Miracle Grow was on sale when we were planting, so that is what we used. Top each crate with a mulch of grassy hay. We stacked the crates 2 high. The Results: Harvest was about 4 gallons between all varieties with the Kennebec giving the best harvest. Scab was a problem for both Kennebec and Yukon Gold. The potatoes planted in the top crates did not do well. Most of the potatoes came from the lower crates. The first picture is the Yukon Gold, the second is the Kennebec. Picture 4 is the potatoes from 3 volunteer plants from the raised bed garden. Analysis: This year was a challenging year in the garden. Very wet and cold early. Very hot and dry mid summer. A cool wet period just before harvest. The crates on the bottom had a better water profile than the crates on the top and stayed more consistently moist. Scab tends to be worse in dry soils that tend towards neutral to alkaline. The tap water here is toxic to plants and tends to be very hard, so when there is not enough rain, the gardens suffer. My research on scab indicates that acidic soil that is consistently moist is the preventive for scab in Varieties that are prone to scab. In my opinion, this is a good way to get an easy crop while setting up a new area, but I would not stack the crates if you have space to spread them out. You probably can get a reasonable crop in a small space with stacking, but consistent and adequate moisture is critical for a good crop without disease problems. According to the research, an acid soil that is high in organic matter prevents bacterial scab but can make fungal scab worse. My guess is bacterial scab in this case because of the moisture challenges.