I am excited this year about growing potatoes. I have never grown them before and after seeing fellow bloggers harvests, I have made it a priority to try them this year. I am running out of garden space in my raised beds so I decided to plant my potatoes in my Coca Cola cooler planter box. Last year I planted peppers in this box, and here is that post.
I wanted to plant red potatoes, but the local nursery only had Kennebec seed potatoes so I had to work with what they had. I really hope I get some good potatoes.
Here is the cooler box positioned in front of my little storage shed.
I started by cutting the potatoes into chunks with several sprouts per piece. I waited two days for them to brown over before planting at the advice of the nursery owner.
The cooler had decent soil, and it was filled to the top. I shoveled out all the dirt except for 5 to 6 inches of soil. I spread out the pieces in the cooler, they are spaced 8 to 10 inches apart. I know that is a little too close, but I wanted to use as many pieces as possible.
I added an additional layer of soil covering the potatoes. I have read that as the sprouts grow up, you add additional soil around them until your planter is filled to the top with soil. We will see what happens.
8 comments:
Kennebec is one of my favorite potatoes. I haven't found any for sale here recently, so I've had to do without. I think you'll love them, they are a great all purpose potato (I grew a 4-pounder one year!). They should do very well in the red box. Yes, add soil as they grow, but never cover more than 1/3 of the plant at a time. Usually they never all grow at the same rate, which makes it a bit more difficult for us gardeners :-)
Thank you for those tips Granny. I look forward to seeing how they do.
I want to grow potatoes. This is not going to be the year for it. Someday, someday.
Cristy, that is exactly what I said last year. So this year I decided to change that. If it makes you feel any better, I probably won't grow corn this year and for me that stinks.
Kennebec is a favorite here as well. I think they will be happy in your planter. You may want to add some support as the plants can get a bit floppy. Four poles in the corners and some twine should do the trick.
Very cool, can't wait to see your results. One of my children was asking me how to plant potatoes!
Peace & Raw Health,
Elizabeth
Rachel, do you mean add supports once the vines have grown to the top of the planter and I can't add any more dirt to the box?
Elizabeth, I had no idea how to grow potatoes either. Thank goodness for google and the web. I don't know how I could figure stuff out without it. Thanks for the comment.
Post a Comment