The great potato experiment

Potatoes. A versatile food, one grown and eaten extensively by my ancestors on relatively small plots of land, but not so easy to grow on an urban plot of land.  The vines tend to extend out, much like strawberries do.  But there is a potential solution to this problem that I’m going to try, and that’s training the potatoes to use vertical spaces rather than horizontal.

Some people have planted potatoes in used tires.  They put the largest tire down first, fill it with soil, add another and fill that with soil and potatoes, and then add more tires and soil as the potatoes flower and the vines grow.  At a certain point, the potatoes are ready for harvest, and if treated properly will form a skin that allows them to be kept for about 6 months.

I’m doing something a little different because I want to grow them on my deck, as I don’t currently have space in my plant bed for tires.  I’m going to try growing them in a 33 gallon garbage can and adding soil to it as the potato vines grow.

I was happy to find this black garbage can that was made in the USA with recycled materials.  The black color will help it retain heat.  It has two holes in the bottom along the outer edges for drainage purposes (I suggest using a drill), and I put one bag of soil in it.  The garbage can cover serves as a saucer to catch drainage, and the currently unoccupied yet heavy Earth Boxes along with the deck planter behind it will help prevent strong winds from pushing it over.  More on Earth Boxes in another post. In a few days, I will plant my potatoes in it.

I bought these seed potatoes from Seedsofchange.com and they were shipped after the danger of frost in my area had passed.  They had already started sprouting, so I cut some of them up and I will let them form a scab over the next couple of days.  This helps prevent rot.  Potatoes do need water, but excessive water isn’t good for them.  The parts I cut away will go into the compost bucket, and the sprouted potatoes I don’t have room for in the garbage can will go on freecycle.

I’ll post about their progress as it happens.  If I can reuse the same garbage can and harvest new seed potatoes for next season, this will be fun, green, and cost-effective, all in a small space.