But for now, I’m getting kindda hungry. If it’s not there let me know, because I’ll alert my ad network. Ring ’em up. Depending on the size of the potato, you’ll cut them into half or even 3 or 4 times. I tried growing potatoes in straw in garbage bags last year- and it did not turn out well. They’re one of the varieties with the blue, almost black skin. Well at least it may have gotten you some new readers, albeit possible disgruntled readers. While the potatoes are actually edible, the general consensus seems to be that they taste terrible. Making me laugh and teaching me stuff — two of my favorite things! Just pull out any weeds you run across if they appear. Homefries, but only for breakfast. You wanna plant potatoes but you don’t have any room? But they were very pretty. As the plant grows, additional soil is heaped around the plant at regular intervals until the container is filled. Use large containers: The larger your container, the more room your plants have to stretch out their roots and form tubers.Consider the following: Large Pots: Large pots and planters are ideal for growing potatoes. Required fields are marked *. I am a Southern Ontario transplant to Southern California and it was just so refreshing to read your blog. Reach in and pull some out! THIS POST WAS LAST UPDATED: May 8th, 2020. Thelba then explained to the fella They’re for crops. Yes, of course, but would I? Stick them anywhere you have space and sunlight. Uh-oh, that’s not good news. Did you call them a stupid son of a bitch? If you prefer bigger potatoes, growing potatoes in straw is a great way to get them. ~ karen! Black trash bags collect heat from the sun so the potatoes grow well even in cooler climates. We have a bucket planted, using soil/straw and they are cresting over the top. Push your seed potatoes (I’m going with 3 of them in the basket) half way into the soil. Only the top set of leaves should be showing when you’re done. If you use only 6 inches of potting soil do you have to fertilize them along? Let them grow until there’s about 6″ – 8″ of growth sticking up. Sign up to get all the latest gardening tips! In university I took a three week class in East End Saskatchewan. (I lived in small town Saskatchewan and tried to wear red wedge shoes, which did *not* go over well. I watched a video on youtube and thought ok I can do that. How do you keep squirrels out? Plant seed potatoes into this mix, burying about … ~ karen. http://www.bamboobotanicals.ca/bamboo-care/light-temperature-for-bamboo.html ~ karen! Most of your yard real estate is taken up by decorative Gnomes and a shuffleboard court? The cuts need to scab over so they don’t rot or get bacteria/disease in them when you plant them. This is great Karen..I’m going to try it if I have the time.. In addition to my front yard vegetable garden I also have a 20 x 40 foot community garden plot and it only costs $50 to rent for the entire year. I have a friend who likes to take blue potato potato salad to any summer BBQs or potlucks- just to get a reaction! Just bought a tomato cage today that I’ll line with newspaper and keep the straw going. That’s just not right!! So do cucumbers. I ended up with a big old pot of compost. :). ~ karen! Karen I just came across this post again & I wondered how your potatoes did this year & what the results of the different growing environments were? It would appear as though you’ve been proven wrong. I hope they have those at Big R. I may have to hunt a bit. Thank you for sharing. Did you know that you can grow potatoes in a container with just a little bit of soil and a whole bunch of straw? It got so wet the plants just rotted from too much moisture. Maybe he’s building … a straw bench. Select a container that is at least 16 inches in diameter and 16 inches (41 cm) high. Because I don’t think I could plan that far ahead…, Alice – It doesn’t take long. I discovered your website when I looking for chicken coop ideas. I used an old metal trash can that had a rusted out bottom and a heavy leaf bag. I planted potatoes for the first time this year. And I’m going to use soil only in the 5th container, which I planted later than the others. The corner of the straw can be lifted carefully and one can see how the potatoes are developing. However, the seed pieces are only planted on the surface of the soil when planting potatoes in straw. ;) ~ karen. How to Hand Pollinate Your Squash & Zucchini! http://www.bamboobotanicals.ca/bamboo-care/light-temperature-for-bamboo.html, http://www.herballisticgarden.com/2/post/2012/05/grow-110lbs-of-potatoes-we-shall-see.html. To hill potatoes just fill in around all the stems and lower leaves of the potatoes with your soil or straw. The tire becomes a container for both garden soil and compost. Other than having far more nutrients because you’re eating it the moment you pick it, it’s just plain fun to be able to go outside to your produce section and decide what to have for dinner. Thanks for the quick reply! ~ karen! Why did he build up an area in the garden with bricks? Plus, you’ve never seen anyone pitch a fit like the fella when he gets worked up. So I dug a nice deep hole planted them then intended to come back and hill them up or whatever. What does the fella’s dad have to say about the chips/fries/crisps debate? This potato bed is built over top of construction fill, consisting of bricks, stones and old broken concrete. One Month Update. Speaking of potatoes, the only thing in my mixed planters that didn’t do well were my ornamental potato vines. Hi Jan! My husband’s birthday is in March, and I’m considering buying him potatoes (they were his favourite thing to grow in our first-time vegetable garden last year). So make sure you cut them several days before you plan to plant them. I seem to have a lot of those. So he grabbed a few potatoes and took them up to the cash. The US climate zone numbers seem much easier. Thank you! ~ karen! I live in an apartment and dont even have a balcony. Tips for Growing Potatoes in Containers: 1. Once you get your seed potatoes, you need to cut them. I’ve grown them in new metal garbage cans before but the baskets are much nicer looking! Let the debates begin. After cutting the seed potatoes, let them sit at room temperature for two or three days. Keep repeating this procedure for two or three more cycles. Sherry – I *have* made microwave potato chips. Most vegetables need an immense amount of natural sunlight to gather the energy they need to produce fruit (vegetables). Home » Garden » Vegetable Gardening » How to Plant Potatoes in Straw.Container Planting. I am trying this for the first time this year. They sprout there like CRAZY. Girl, you need to do stand up comedy! How did the taters do? Follow the directions from your particular growing areas when you want to know when to plant potatoes in straw. I’ll let you know how it goes! I just have to see how much they want for shipping, because that could kill the idea. I just planted some blue potatoes two weeks ago and they have started putting some real leaves out. Yes. Props to you for making food! I am using pallet box method for planting my potatoes this year. I like your idea of the baskets. Make sure to face the eyes upward. Traci – I haven’t had trouble with squirrels yet, but if I did, I’d just put chicken wire or hardware cloth over the basket. Well thank goodness I saw this! Then they must put a tire or a straw on top of this soil. I’m so glad the fella decided to pass on my kind offer to leave you for a Sr citizen who is too tired for sex. But hey, they’re are no guarantees in gardening and you I don’t see that you offered any, so caveat emptor, I say. Layer the potatoes and line the bag with straw. You cannot imagine the looks of disgust! I don’t remember to water them either. When you grow potatoes in straw, you’ll see the sprouts quickly. How far in advance can you buy seed potatoes? I attempted another method I had found online using the cloth grocery bags – purchased at a dollar store. If they have lots of eyes, it’s best to cut them in half before you plant them. Thelba, or whatever her name was, started to ring him up and asked him how long he was planning on staying in town. You should leave them to grow and monitor their progress. And I’m finding it difficult to even pack the straw down at all. If you want to grow potatoes in straw, there are proper, old-fashioned ways to do it. I’m talking furry mold. When first planted, the seed potatoes are just barely covered with soil. At my house you have to be able to take care of yourself. What is it about Kennebecs that make them your favourite? I haven’t tried planting in laundry baskets. I’m hopeful. Place the seed potatoes in the soil top. Why would anybody want to eat blue potatoes? How to Grow Vegetables & Flowers from Seed. Thanks!! And now I’m sorry I lauded the idea of straw-hilling to so many people (based on your blog as well as many other sources) before seeing if it actually works. I’m pretty sure you wrote one, but I can’t seem to locate it. My only complaint is you can only make a handful at a time. We’re in the same zone as you, so we’d be planting at the beginning of May. If you just have a balcony stick them out there. The potatoes in baskets of straw did poorly. I’m doing them in half bushel baskets with straw, like you see here, I’m doing them in half bushels with all soil, and the traditional potato planting method of trenches and then hilling them in a regular garden bed. Cover the seed potatoes with an additional 3 to 4 inches (7.6 to 10 cm) of soil. Our arrival must have been the event of the summer! I found benefits to both. Every spring, I pull the potato plants right out of the compost pile! Hi Nancy! Then it’s time to “hill” them. Don’t forget to plan for that. And thank you for the tutorials describing the process of growing food to make me even more grateful that I don’t have to. Into a restaurant/bar/variety store/video rental place. We do ours in a pile of old mulch hay. Though the bales I got from an amused farmer are a year old, they’re still pretty perky and not wet or rotty at all. Plant seed potatoes with sprouted-side up in soil, and cover them with 2-3 inches of additional compost. How can you not have baked potato with a nice grilled (sorry..BBQed) t-bone steak?? I have full sun at the side of my home…faces south. As luck would have it, I happen to be out of potatoes, so I’ll have to run to the store to get some. Each of those produced quite well. Them there are seed potatoes fella.” To which the fella replied, Yeah, yeah. I’m kindda glad I did. Each piece should have at least two sprouts. Hi new to this idea and was wondering would it be possible to grow these inside. I’m sure I have asked this before but I cannot find the answer (but it has been fun scrolling through your old posts). Did you have to get it and let it start decomposing last fall? Thelba said “You aren’t plannin’ on eatin’ them potatoes are ya? They range from 1 – 7. Like this. Hi Jody – I get it at Quick Feed (The Copetown Feed store). I love potatoes!!!!!! Growing potatoes in straw isn’t difficult; they do … A container for potato growing should be at least 2½ to 3 feet tall and 3 feet across with holes for drainage in the bottom and sides. About harvesting and how these potatoes turned out. Nope. You are giving me inspiration to grow more of our own food!!! I’m sure we would all enjoy seeing pictures and comments on your experimentation. I drilled some holes in the bottoms, and along the bottom third on the sides. Then begin filling your potato tower with a foot of soil. The chicken fence potato tower is a easy and productive means of growing potatoes, especially when using straw. Luckily, I didn’t add the straw until after we had a week-long deluge. When growing in containers, the hilling process looks a little different, but the basics are the same. It should be in an area that receives sufficient daily sunlight. Janey – I’m not sure what ad you’re talking about. I’ll leave it up to you. The deli gets frosting in them, and give them away just for the asking. ~ karen! How cool! I can’t wait to see how many potatoes I get with them! Lay the straw with the height at four to five inches at the top of it. With so much going on with the garden I ran out of time to update everything. After a week … they’ll look all grody. I am so excited for potatoes! was wondering if you did the basket / straw method last year? I have an old garden book and one of the methods for potatoes is similar to yours with the straw, only they used fallen leaves from the previous fall and kept piling them up and watering them down as the potato plant grew…that way you didn’t have to pull the whole plant up….instead you could just reach down and find the biggest and nicest potato and snap it off and leave the other smaller ones to grow. New potatoes can be harvested easily even before the potato vines mature completely. Do not plant the whole potato in the ground, instead grow slips, them root them before putting in the ground. Could I? But … chances are they will. In a 15 gallon container I would plant three or four fingerling potatoes or large seed potatoes cut into three or four pieces. I love your blogs!! Nikki – Chips like french fries? Many, many towns and cities have community gardens that you can rent a plot at. However, I do admire people who can multi-task and that town sounds like it was full of them. Some people say 2 days others say a week. If you buy a bale of straw ($4) it’ll do for many baskets of potatoes. So…we’ll see. Come to think of it … who cares. You can plant potatoes in half bushel baskets, with 6″ of dirt and a bunch of straw. I would love to try this for my daughter and me. OH! ~ karen. Oh my word……”holy shit….Mr. Man, I love you! The advice we got was to just plunk those suckers right down on the ground and cover them with the straw. I lived with a crazy Irishman for 30+ years and now that he’s planted I don’t think I’d want to do that again. Hi Deb – I’ve tried a few methods for potato growing. (Roll down sides of container if desired). Planting. Written by Karen. The beauty of growing potatoes under a straw mat is that the guesswork is taken out of the growing, and harvesting becomes considerably easier. They’re usually pretty vigorous. Don’t know if you are looking for feedback on the floating ad or not, but it’s super annoying. In baskets with straw and straight in the soil/trenches. Thanks! I don’t understand it. I think I packed the straw down too tight. They had to take out everything in it and list it so I couldn’t say something had disappeared while in their custody. You can get them this time of year at garden centres, seed stores and sometimes even hardware stores carry them. Granted, I was not her legal guardian but that person had left me in charge while they were on their honeymoon in Aruba. 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