Have you heard that you can grow potatoes in barrels? Some people use old tires stacked up but I wouldn’t use those. In MO, I used some big wooden boxes and the concept is the same. .throw in a little dirt, add potatoes, add more dirt as the potatoes grow and keep adding dirt til eventually, you’ll have a whole barrel full of potatoes.
Well . . I had a couple of bags of seed potatoes sitting around. I had bought them when I was waiting for the seeds I wanted . . just in case the ones I wanted didn’t come, I wanted to be sure I had something to plant.
Seed Potatoes
They were already sprouted and early May was way too late to be planting potatoes but . . what did I have to lose? I was going to throw them out otherwise.
We have these compost bins and they mostly had just leaves in them so I dumped a bag of seed potatoes in each bin.
Compost Bin
I added more leaves on top of the seed potatoes. Twice now, they’ve sprouted up through the top of the leaves and I’ve added more leaves.
Potatoes Sprouting
It may not result in any potatoes but . . you never know and it was fun to try it and see what happens.
Of course, I’ll post my final results here.
wanda jordan says
Funny you would do this. I put my potato trimming in compost pile all the time. One year they sprouted too. I cover up with more leaves and they grew. When the leaves died down I dug to see what was under them. Low and behold there were all kinds of potatoes. So yes they will grow in compost only. Just be patient. No I didn’t know at the time you had to plant early scraps were just scrapes to me. Sad but mine I did this year are gone due to all the rain. But hey they may come back who knows. We’ll see we both might have surprises later on with potatoes.
Sherryl says
Judy – I learn the most interesting things from you! You actually put more dirt/leaves/etc. on TOP of the green leaves of the sprouting potatoes and then add more potatoes? And that works? And here’s the stupid question of the day… why plant them in boxes or barrels instead of the ground? Do they take up less space that way or are they easier to harvest? (that was more than one question, wasn’t it?) This is so cool! I love visiting your site. 🙂
JudyL says
You never add more potatoes after the initial seeds are planted. Just keep piling on dirt, compost, leaves . . whatever . . as the green growth pushes through the top.
Some people don’t have the ground to plant them — either lack of space or poor soil. Yes, you do get quite a bit more potatoes per square foot when they’re growing in a barrel or deep box. Also, some people live where it rains too much (central Texas these days) and potatoes rot if buried in the ground.
patti says
i have purple thumbs but am trying to learn and do better. hubby plants tomatoes each year in containers which are protected from the deer inside a dog run. anyway, more than once i’ve “grown” potatoes by leaving them too long in the plastic bag i bought them in. roots and leaves have escaped thru the little air holes in the bag. maybe potatoes would be something i could try!
Patti Tappel says
We had our first meal of fresh potatoes yesterday for brunch. Fried in a cast iron skillet. Yum, yum! Everyone else in the neighborhood is jealous, theirs aren’t’ even close to being ready! Funny thing, these hadn’t even bloomed yet.
JudyL says
Last year none of my potatoes bloomed and they produced plenty of potatoes. Weird!
danielle says
HAve you seen the bags you can plant them in? In the past I just planted them in deep pots……this year found a couple that had somehow escaped and were trying to grow in the yard but “someone” cut them down. This year hubby built a potato tower for me. Need to add the last layer of dirt SOON and the last board to hold that in.