Another Potato Update

Here's another update on the potatoes.  They are growing strong, or at least they are with leaf production.  It is time to "hill" them for the first time this afternoon (I'd do it now, but I suppose I need to go to the grocery store and make sure my 1 yr old has something to drink this afternoon, because I'm out of milk and apple juice and many other things... oh, how I hate going to the grocery store with the kids.  But I digress...)  Here are some pictures of the growth since the last post.  A top view of each of the baskets, a side view of one of them, and a view of the pot.  I'll post "after" pictures of the hilling later today.

Potato Update

The potatoes have sprouted! Yay! I was so excited yesterday when I looked in the potato basket and saw little leaves poking out. It looks like the potato experiment is working. Both baskets have sprouts, though not every piece of potato we planted has sprouted yet. One basket has one piece that has sprouted and the leaves are developing quite nicely. The other basket has two pieces that have sprouted, but they are both just breaking the surface. I am ridiculously excited that the potatoes are growing, as it's a first. I was just talking to one of the other moms at Kate's preschool about it when I dropped her off today, and told her that yes we are actually growing potatoes in a laundry basket! Also the already started potatoes I put in the patio pot have grown a lot as well - it's amazing how much bigger they are just 10 days after planting them in the big pot. I almost wish fall would hurry up and arrive so I could harvest some homegrown potatoes. Almost.

Our lettuce is growing quite well - it's about time to do some thinning and have some yummy salad of "baby greens" with the plants I pull. We have spinach, green leaf, romaine and red leaf - I wrote all the exact cultivars down but I don't have them handy. The cauliflower has also grown significantly in the past week and half or so, and the green onions have sprouted. I have 6 measly pea plants (I planted about 20-25 seeds and only 6 germinated), but I had heard that peas don't always germinate well.

I am hoping after the warmth of the past week it will be approaching time to plant tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, beans, etc, in the next couple of weeks.

The Great Potato Experiment

So we're trying an experiment this year.  We're attempting to grow potatoes in a cheap laundry basket.  Mom's garden club was at Natorp's on Wednesday, and the guy who spoke talked about growing potatoes in a tub or basket and said a laundry basket was great with kids because they grow out the sides.  So I bought 2 cheap laundry baskets from the dollar store, and 2 seed potatoes from The Feed Barn this morning (love The Feed Barn, Gravel Knoll Farms and the WC Farmer's Market, gotta get that in here), for a total investment of $2.84, including taxes.

We cut up the potatoes into 3-4 pieces (they were pretty large potatoes) with 2-3 eyes each.  Then we put about 2" of old potting soil mixed w/ compost in the bottom of the basket, put in the pieces of potato & covered them with more soil/compost, watered and are waiting to see.  As they grow, we will gradually cover with more soil/compost until the basket is full, like "hilling" potatoes.  I also have 1 potato plant I bought already started from Varnau's on West Chester Rd (also love that place, so I thought I'd put it in as well), which I also planted

in a large patio pot.  So this is our "potato experiment".  If I had thought of it before we planted the potatoes, I'd have drilled a hole in the center of each laundry basket, as there is about 1-2" of the bottom where the sides come up where water could puddle and it's kind of close to where we put the potato pieces in.

I had read that you shouldn't use fresh compost on root vegetables as excess nitrogen triggers leaf production vs. root production, but the guy at Natorp's specifically said compost so we're seeing what happens.  I'm fairly content to experiment when the cost is $2.84 (our old potting soil & compost were free from our compost bin and the patio pot I put the potatoes in).

I'll post pics as the experiment comes along.