Want to grow potatoes? Lacking the gumption to dig them up? Here's the answer: Boxes. Pick a spot in your yard where you'd like to improve the soil a bit and set out your boxes (at least the size of a 5 gallon bucket).
Fill the boxes with dirt and plant your potatoes, remember to water and weed. When it comes time, either break, tear, or dump the dirt from the boxes and pick up the 'taters!
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Awesome now to find some seedling potatoes. Thanks for the tip I bet that would work for watermelon and just about anything else.
This sounds interesting. I think, if I were going to grow potatoes in boxes, I would take big black garbage bags, cut them at the side seams and duct tape them to the box, making sure there were holes in the bottom for drainage. Make sure you have enough soil that, when the plants start growing, you can add more soil to them.
I have done this with big pots. Be sure to mound the dirt around the tops as they grow (for more potatoes). I usually put a potato with at least two or three eyes (I have even cut a sprouted potato from the store)on a few inches of soil, cover, and wait for it to grow. as it grows cover with more soil until it reaches the top.
I'm currently growing potatoes in plastic storage containers. Fill the container with about 6 inches of soil, plant spuds. Add soil as the plants grow, keeping about 6 inches of foliage above soil line. When leaves turn brown, dump over and gather up the taters. Usually you can't use store bought potatoes because they are sprayed with an inhibitor to keep them from sprouting. Try any kind of potato from a healthfood store or buy them at a nursery.
We did this last year and it was fun. We used storebought potatoes, cut into pieces with at least one eye each, and regular old yard dirt in an 18 by 24' box about a foot deep. The box was out in the yard in full sunlight and rain and it held up very well. We got lots of potatoes a little larger than golf balls before the kids got hasty and wanted to dig them up while they were still green.
My mother used to do this in the ground. She had a small place on the south side of a building and that is where she kept her potaotes. Covered with a little dirt and leaves. She had "new potatoes" almost year round.
Debbie J
What a brilliant idea. I'm going to try this, this year. Jan UK
For a great tutorial about growing potatoes in bushel baskets (or any container really), check out the blog The Art of Doing Stuff. Just type 'growing potatoes' in the search box on the blog to find the right post. I did this last year with great success.
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