I won’t venture to guess, but I know I would have found a way to cheat when I was a kid. 
4 Likes
I planted potatoes on the dirt two years ago and covered with a thick layer of straw, no idea how well they grew, the yield for us was 1/1 and we have no idea what yield the voles got… 
What is the wood ash supposed to do? Nutrient supply or vole deterrant perhaps?
5 Likes
The wood ash will have some potassium in it, which potatoes have/need as well. Also fixed acidic soil.
5 Likes
I have never even thought about soil amendments for potatoes, but ofcourse, why not potatoes when I consider it for most other plants
6 Likes
Like Cody said. Root crops like potassium and the wood ash is free. Wood ash also carries a fair amount of micro nutrients.
6 Likes
Use it sparingly. Some plants don’t like wood ash like the squash family, and grasses tolerate small amounts. It is also very alkaline.
Cody could be right about root crops. I don’t grow those.
Don’t just dump it on. A little goes a long way.
3 Likes
4 Likes
I do it with a breeze at my back and dust it on early in the spring when there are still patches of snow, or late in the fall after harvesting.
2 Likes
I stoped uning ash on potatoes, l read they like more acedic soils and alcakline soils can make it go scaby.
5 Likes
Hry KristijanL and I’ve experienced that they originating up the sides of mountains in the dry Andes, they like less watering to the point of being stressed. Like dryer, weaker soils.
Won’t make the biggest potatoes. But will make the most nutrient dense, with least growing problems.
Maybe your daughter ignored hers just right, eh.
S.U.
5 Likes
Ha, as usual with growing, everybody is right. By trial and error you learn what the right is for you. Some folks do fine sticking a seed in the ground and walking away. Then there are pot growers that can tell you to the microgram just what is in their grow media. I fall in-between. I want to have an idea of what the soil PH is for different crops. That’s why I grow in defined beds. Certainly you can grow just about anything at a PH of 7. But your tomatoes are much happier in the low 6’s. Then there is a difference between different cultivars of the same crop. I now grow mainly Yukon Gold potatoes because I have no issues with them and the ones I stuck in the ground this year were solid and barely chitted all the way into May. The red potatoes I grow, Norlands and Red Pontiac, are unedible by early spring and are much more prone to develop scab even if planted among the scab free Yukons. I have pretty much backed off on Reds but since I save my own seed I don’t really like all my eggs in the same basket. Anyway I never argue about how people grow. Nothing is one size fits all.
11 Likes
Specially for the Swedish guys. Dont know what kind of engine in the PV544 Katterug but it was fast. Video doesnt really show. Indestructible engine. Sounded like a four cyl.
6 Likes
Joep, Volvo PV544 came with both B16 (1600cc) and B18 (1800cc) engines, depending on years. 60 or 75 hp. The one you saw was most likely “upgraded” some 
6 Likes
Those B18 engines are pretty sturdy, capable to get bored and stroked (b21 crank) Opel pistons (?) up to 2,2 liters, step3 head and Weber 45-dcoe, and Nisse Hedlund evil camshaft they make 200-250 hp 
(ofcourse, some other modifications needed)
They are also great at chewing dirty woodgas, and a very good “learn-to-operate-a-gasifier” engine, those pushrods can be hammered straight many times 
“big brother” B20 is even better.
It was a Volvo pv with gasifier, showed on tv that got me “hooked” 
8 Likes
So impressed with Tone’s stone wall I thought I would show some of mine.
The last two are some decorative ponds in front of my house. I have gold fish in them.
19 Likes
Tom, have you had any problems the ponds cracking or leaking? I to will be builfing something similar soon. I was thinking to coat it with hot tar, even if a crack rorms the tar shuld hold
9 Likes
Yes, there are three small ponds there and only the middle one has twice developed leaks. I have had them for 20 years and have had to replaster that one twice. The lowest one is in the ground so I don’t know if it ever leaked or not and my granddaughter helped me build the highest one. It has never leaked. She must be a better mason than me. I thought of tarring the surfaces but I keep gold fish in them in the warm seasons and I thought the tar might be bad for them. If I were going to tar them I’d lay some sort of fiber mesh on first and tar through that.
6 Likes
Why dont you use EPDM for a pond?