Planting Potatoes, Pitchforks and Other Fun Things
Sometimes I think I take things too literally.
I'm pretty sure that when Laura mentioned she had put holes in the bottom of her potato planting garbage can by going to town with a pitchfork, she wasn't actually suggesting that as the best method for getting the job done! Nonetheless…
…here I am. Having way too much fun with a pitchfork.
Crazy pregnant lady!
Hey, it got the job done and I didn't even have to go find my hubby's drill! My kids got a kick out of watching me. I got some exercise. It's all good! 🙂
The end result. You can't actually see the holes very well, but they're in there. I didn't put too many holes, actually, because if you look closely on the sides you might (or then again, might not) be able to see that there are already significant cracks that will help with the drainage.
By the way, this garbage can was scored off of Freecycle last week. I had previously had an old garbage can in mind, leftover from a previous downstairs tenant, but I think my landlord must have taken it to the dump. Suddenly, I had beautiful seed potatoes ready to go and no can (plus, no desire to fork out $15-20 to buy one). I put up a wanted add for an old can, lid or no lid, and was rewarded with this "beauty". Free is good, and recycling useful stuff that other people don't want is even better!
Now we've added about a foot of soil and compost, and our seed potatoes. It's difficult to tell, but three of them are a yellow potato, and two of them are blue-purple potatoes. The varieties I chose are:
Sieglinde
Russian Blue
We covered these up with a few more inches of compost and soil, and stuck it in a nice sunny place, right beside the garden.
As an aside, if you live in the Fraser Valley, BC, and are looking for somewhere local to buy heirloom seeds and a great variety of starter seedlings and plants (including a few heirlooms and more interesting varieties than many other garden centers), try checking out Arts Nursery. That's where I picked up my unique seed potatoes. I was so pleased to find their West Coast heirloom seed selection to fill in any gaps I have this summer, without having to do another seed order by mail.
While we were out planting potatoes, we took stock of the rest of the garden. The cauliflower seedlings that I put out last week are quite happy (they're a bit tough to see, but up close, they're perky and green).
The broccoli… not so much. What broccoli, you ask? The ones that have apparently already completely died on me, after nearly two months of babying them from seed. The nerve.
Seeing as I still had over half of the seed potatoes I bought leftover from the garbage can method, I decided to leave in place the few broccoli that still had a fighting chance, and replace the rest with potatoes. It'll actually be a fun experiment, to see which produces more, the ones in the garden or in the can. Any guesses?
One last image of my happy little pea sprouts, that ended up incredibly unevenly spaced. This year I digressed from my usual Square Foot Gardening-style spacing (precise, grid like planting), and decided to try broadcasting my seeds in wide rows (ie: closing my eyes and hoping the seed lands where it's supposed to, or something to that extent). I really, truly did try to spread the seed out evenly over the whole area. Apparently the seeds on the edges are in mutiny. They're longing for a return to the olden days. Sorry little guys.
All that's left for my spring garden planting is sweet corn, cucumbers and zucchini! Whohoo! Then there are a few more herbs inside, as well as my lovely little tomato plants, one pepper plant, and a couple of Sugar Baby watermelon seedlings. I anticipate I'll get all of these ones out in another month or so.
That's my garden update. How are your gardens doing (or your garden planning and preparation, if you're still waiting for the last of the snow to melt away)?
Yep, that was me about a year ago with my pitch fork. Well, except I wasn’t a crazy pregnant lady…I was just a crazy lady. Hey, whatever works!
So with this trash can method of potatoes??? Do you then add more dirt every time the plant grows taller to get more potatoes like the Square Foot gardening method says? Seems like you’d get a lot more that way than traditionally in ground. 🙂
If anyone is interested you can see a new way of gardening at my site savingmoney101. It is called lasagna gardening and it is so fun. She talks about potato planting in containers too but she tells you cut the bottom right off. Spring is so fun.
Sorry…that website is:
http://www.savingmoney101.blogspot.com
Hello! I found your blog via SortaCrunchy, and have been enjoying reading through your archives and all that you have to say! We’re not waiting on any snow here in the southern region of the U.S., but this post definitely was the kick in the butt I needed to get out there and get our garden going already! And I AM prego, so I can’t pass up an opportunity to take some crazy pregnant lady pictures of my own 🙂
Right now, I have a bunch of seedlings in my sunroom, but haven’t quite figured out if I want to proceed with planting them in containers or try to find a spot in the yard. So far, I’ve got tomatoes, basil, green peppers and Grenobloise lettuce. I’m hoping to get some seed potatoes over the weekend and try out the potatoes in a can method.
We’re in Houston, so the plants are making some good progress. We just a had about 5-7″ of rain so it’s pretty soggy.
I planted potatoes for the first time. Not in a can though. I have collards, tomatoes, bell peppers, squash and beans.
Already ate of few beans that I picked and threw into a soup the other night. ♥ Joy
I just saw Heavenly Homemaker’s tutorial on the trash can potatos and planning on doing it as well- I wouldn’t have enough room in my garden beds for potatos after everything else I am planning… I’ll be buying the potato seeds tomorrow.
Do you know if this method works for onions? I want a LOT of onions.
I have started breaking ground- berries are planted, got some herbs planted today, started some tomato seeds, and everything else will be planted by next week after we cut away bushes and put in my raised beds. I’ll be planting fruit trees next week as well.
I really like the idea of potatoes in a garbage can…but what about chemicals leaching from the plastic when it’s sitting in the hot sun?? This is also a concern of mine for composting. Do you have any information about that?
Sorry Candace, that is something I just don’t know about yet. I am trying to research it, but can’t seem to come up with much. I might get down underneath the can to see if I can find it’s plastic # on the bottom, because knowing that would at least be a good start. If you learn anything, send me an email, ok? 🙂
I’m a different Candace than the previous commentor, but my first thought was also about the plastic leaching. I’m sure those trash cans are not food grade plastic, so you might want to be careful.
Oh….your garden is lovely! I’m trying my hand at growing potatoes..but don’t think it’s working. Will have to do “round two” to be successful.
BTW…you look adorable!
Regardless of whether a man does not have a garden, it is conceivable to grow potatoes in old dustbins, enormous earthenware pots, old and unused barrels or basically even in a vast pack. In the event that the potato spuds are planted in late-winter, the individual can eat great nutritious and naturally grown potatoes only a couple of months after the fact.