Anyway,my new planting area was just plowed, harrowed and the neighbor said he was bringing over the row marker today.

My last frost date is May 15th, when can tubers be safely planted out?
Is using black plastic a bad idea for weed control?
the horse farmer who retired from the business last year dropped off 2 truck loads of mulch hay I fielded for a year I am planning to use in the new area for the taters, have enough for the dahlias also.
I think I will use the fence posts and wire for the rows as support.

And to think, I never bothered with tubers because of fear of losing them over the winter!

I hope that they continue to keep ok! I am not sure when you can plant out, really can't offer much advice there... Have you thought about contacting the person you got them from and asking them when they normally put them out?

I learned the hard way with a tuber of mine, I bought a Black Wizard, I was so excited, but... I left it out one night in the poly house and even at just below freezing it is done for! So you want to be careful, that is for sure!

how are they stored right now? Perhaps someone can suggest what may be the best solution for making sure they survive a few more weeks, you are in the home stretch! perhaps they should be hosed off to replenish moisture... but maybe this is a bad idea... I just don't know!

One thing is for sure, what people normally do when they have a handful of tubers, is not going to be practical for you! No matter what though, even if you have to wait for mid May, my guess is that at least a decent number of them are going to survive!

I think this year will be the first I will be able to sell enough flowers to make some extra cash to fund some field help. My perennial bed will be 3rd year and looking well so far, after a harse winter. Annuals, I love my zinnias and they love me back, lol.
I have lots of blue ribbons for zinnias, I can look at one and say your blue, lol.

Yesterday and this morning I was splitting the tubers apart, so far they are plump like a fresh tater.
The clumps were pretty large so I was able to divide in 1/2 or 3rds.

Now, for the game plan for weed control.
I have decided not to direct sow annuals, but start from seed and transplant.
Being I was just plowed going to apply corn gluten meal as the pre emergent...measure out the landscape fabric for the walkways/garden tractor paths.

Best laid plans, lol hope they work!

Have you ever heard of Lasagna Gardening?

It may sound far fetched, but apparently spreading out newspaper and even cardboard on theground, and covering with mulch makes an excellent weed barrier!

However, my neighbor works at a carpet mill, he gets huge rolls of the backing for carpet for free.
I can roll it out, garden staple that down alot faster and it works very well. He covered his entire garden last year, that was intresting.