Day 4 The digging begins with... water

 We had frost overnight but I don't think the garden got any due to it being mostly sheltered. It's clear and breezy today. Santa Ana conditions again so no rain in sight for some time. Cold and dry.

South bed was still wet due to it being in the shade. The weeds are showing definite signs of more damage from the spray.

A bit slow but it's working and more dirt friendly than something that would work faster and cost more money.

I looked at the other area I want to use and decided... what tool to start with. Maybe I should have started with the cultivator but chose the hoe instead. Bad pokemon choice.

Dirt.

Very hard and could only keep it up for maybe a minute or two. Time for more drastic measures and since no pneumatic hammers were available I chose...Hydro-cultivation!

That may look like a bathtub but it barely dug deep enough. Single jet of water rather than broad can only hit so much area. I needed more pressure than what I had due to limitations of hose. If I want to plant my potatoes over there, I need at least a foot deep or maybe more. I will have to make do with what I have and build up instead of down.

 As you can see in the other picture there is also quite a slope so that will need to be fixed as well. Don't want all the water to drain off. The video also shows just how orange the soil is. I will definitely need a sharp implement of some sort to dig the trench for the border to go in. The small points on it are for nice composty soft soil. Not sandy clay hard pan East County soil. 

If I wanted to do them just in a container there are dozens of different methods. All of them require purchasing something and getting soil to plant them in. Hence why I am hoping I can get away with just digging a bit and maybe stacking something around the plant.

I don't remember if I covered how potatoes grow previously but the more depth you can get for the plant to grow in, the more potatoes you get. Much like tomatoes they are related to, the plants can grow roots on the main stem. This is how you've seen 'potatomato' plants which are a potato plant with a tomato grafted onto it on top. They're compatible species but considering they're both annuals, kind of a lot of money to spend on getting a novelty like that. If my potatoes do well I might graft a tomato branch onto one. Science in the garden!