1- wood ash from stove/fireplace is best thing for potatoes and garden. It is rich in potash (K)and can help to lower acidity(increas PH).

2- Deer dropping is just like sheep/cow dropping. In small amounts can be mixed with garden soil before composting.

3- potato with one foot long sprouts is NOT GOOD. you lave to break the off and plant the potato.

4- you can plant potato about a month before LFD. as long as the ground does not freeze at the depth that potatoes are planted (about 3")

If after they come up and you get frost, then have to cover them.

The minerals in hardwood ash are mostly in salt form, which means they release quickly, and is best applied to soil well built up in OM, or else apply compost also. Ash is a good source of K, and K is quickly depleted during the growing season. Even more though it has Calcium, which tends to stick around and so levels build up. The calcium in my oldest garden is consequently very high. It is the addition of calcium which raises the ph in acid soils; that's why limestone raises the ph, it is very rich in calcium. Apparently as the ph increases it requires geometrically more calcium to raise it, because even though my calcium levels are very high, the ph is not excessive. More of a problem is that high calcium makes it hard for K to exist at adequate levels in the soil. My K tested very low, even though my OM percentage is high.

So my opinion based on experience is that wood ash is useful in modest amounts, and it would be best if one used additional sources of K such as well-made compost or even sul-po-mag or sulfate of potash. If your soil is heavy then you want to be all the more careful. In a year or two you will benefit from a soil test, if not earlier.

A way one can continue to use ashes even after the Ca is high is to sift it through a screen; most wood stoves leave a lot of charcoal in the fly-ash (which has the salts). Take the charcoal and powder it a much as possible. This is an excellent medium to mix minerals into, like mag sulfate, manganese sulfate, sul-po-mag, Boron, etc. Charcoal stores minerals.

Nice answer, PN. IIRC you have sandy loam. What grows well in the older garden, now Ca-rich and K-poor? And doesn't the sandy soil leach Ca in a relatively short time? I disagree that wood ash is particularly good for potatoes, though. In fact, I give it to everything except potatoes.

Idaho, I would not break that piece off the potato, bury it gently, with that part close to the surface. Potatoes do ok in a little cold but don't like frost. Warm the soil up first if you can with a piece of clear plastic.

Spread your ashes around and don't keep dumping them in the same place, would be my advice.

Right now, I would be thinking about planting lettuce, radish, spinach and peas. It is really wet here and I am just waiting a bit before putting stuff out but my garlic is up and lettuce is growing under a little tunnel cover.

Glib, yes sandy high-OM soil. Greens grow well, and legumes, and potatoes which is a little odd. Though I don't have many big tubers anymore which I now know is because of the low K. Actually, everything grows pretty good but I have a lot more bug problems than I think is reasonable, and generally small roots and tubers. That is probably due to the imbalance of high Ca and P but not enough Mag, K, B , S and some traces.

You know, I have read that Ca leaches easily but also that it doesn't. ?

Thanks for everyones information!!

pnbrown, I have peas and lettuce coming up. I planted cabbage, brussel sprouts and spinach so far. The spinach was planted a few days before the lettuce and STILL nothing. Last year was bad too, why is it so slow?
I hope to plant onion sets tomorrow if it doesn't rain. The garden had a foot of snow 3 weeks ago.
Our first frost is Sept 6th so I gotta plant asap.

I bought 12 Ozark Beauty everbearing strawberry plants yesterday. Can they be planted now? Anything I need to know about them? They have blooms. They grow them in the green houses 6 miles from my house but I have to drive 1 hour and 20 minutes one way just to buy them :(

Thanks soooo much!

1. Potatoes like acidic soil. Ashes raise the pH of the soil, and potatoes tend to get Scab with a higher pH.

2. Have you had a soil test done? Do you know if you need Potash/Potassium (K)? Here in WA, we need everything BUT Potassium, as our soil is loaded with it, and adding more just throws off the soil balance even more.

3. Compost the deer droppings. You don't know what parasites they have, don't ask for trouble.

4. Potatoes with sprouts... those are called ROOTS. When you start plants indoors, do you chop off their roots when you plant them outdoors? Just lay the potatoes gently in their trench and cover them, leaving the sprouts intact.

Sue

Lettuce seed will tend to germinate in cool soil before most anything else. Spinach is slow in cold soil, even though as a plant it likes cool weather. Which is why it's a better fall crop than spring, or for spring start it under protection to warm the ground.

Seems quite early to be direct-seeding for most crops in Idaho, but, idaho (sorry, couldn't resist, you probably never heard that one, huh?). What's your last average frost date?

pnbrown: Thanks for your reply. May 31st is last frost. I am just trying to get it in the ground asap cuz the growing season here is short. I don't want to miss any planting times. I can still replant. I read today that spinach takes a week or so longer than lettuce and since the ground is colder I guess I need to wait another week or so.