Monday, February 11, 2013

Grow: Container Potato Plant

Did you know you can plant potatoes in containers and they'll do great? According to many internet sources they do! Since we're still living in a townhouse, we don't have our own land to garden on so I'm trying to do what I can to have a lot of green! 

I've been on the hunt for a cute barrel for quite some time. I had seen them at Lowe's and Home Depot but they just seem so expensive! Like this one at Lowe's is super cute but $35 seems steep to me! 


And then I found this wooden beauty! My husband and I went into a huge estate sale store that was going out of business. It was priced at $7...not bad! But then we get to the counter and we are told everything is 40% off! We paid a little over $4 for this cool little barrel! 


It's not quite as big as I wanted but for $4 how can you go wrong? It's maybe a foot tall. 


There's a tiny hole in the bottom too. Not sure why, though.


We decided to line it with a plastic bag just to be safe so it wouldn't rot the wood. It was pressure fit, sanded and sealed with something so I think it would have been fine, but it can't hurt to have that layer of protection. 


I didn't want to drown my taters so I gathered some old decorative rocks and stones to lay in the bottom.



 Then we filled it most of the way with soil.


We left about 4-6" open from the top. 


I grabbed our quite sprouted potato that I had cut in half a couple days beforehand. You can tell I've been hoping to find a good barrel like this for a while! 


I then set them on top of the soil. Because the roots were so long already, I made sure to bury them into the soil first.


About another 2-3" of soil on top, some water and we're good to go! 


Now we wait! I really hope we get some little potatoes in a few months!


I got my first sprout in just a couple of weeks!



 After over 3 weeks, they've both sprouted and are even growing leaves. I'm so excited!


It's important to note that if the potatoes start showing to cover them up with another inch or two of soil. You want the stem to be under soil by about an inch and a half. 

Stay tuned for updates on the potato growth!

What are some veggies you've grown in containers? Which ones seem to work the best?

Till next time,
Catherine

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