Post Punk Kitchen Forum

You guys, how cool! Anyone want to garden along with me and try this?

http://www.sunset.com/garden/fruits-veg ... age14.html

Genius, I will definitely do this with you.

I'm in! What a great idea!

I'm a little sketchy on using precious garden space to grow potatoes, since they're so cheap. And for some reason they intimidate me, too. But this method kinda' clears up both those problems.

Also, if you get some more 'unusual' varieties of seed potatoes, or mostly use them for harvesting while 'new', then I think you will definitely be saving money. I mean, yeah, growing russets would be a bit silly, but maybe a purple and a red?

i would love to try this if we don't find a house soon, our current yard has soooo little sunny space, but i could set up a few towers along the fence. However, i am worried about if they will need extra water, we had a really dry winter and we don't get summer rain and i'm expecting drought conditions this summer. thoughts? I am hoping to water our garden with mostly grey water from baths, dishes, we have talked about diverting the washer, but since this is a rental, we are hesitant to try that here- better to wait until we own a place.

my dad uses potato boxes, its awesome, and you just pull apart the box when its time to harvest and dig through the dirt for treasure, then start over

picked that day backyard potatos are super great, you dont even need to season them, just bake and eat

http://gardenbeds.rolandksmith.com/potato-grow-box/

If you can get spent tires, you can grow them in tires...keep adding level after level.

We just planted some a few weeks ago in an old trashcan! We grow a bunch of inefficient veggies (broccoli!) because they're what we enjoy eating.

I wanted to do this but never got around to it. Now, I'm probably moving soon so I'm not planning anything big for the garden this spring.

It is probably a good idea to do it yourself even though potatoes are cheap, because apparently they have a lot of pesticides on them. They are on the dirty dozen. I have a hard time finding russets organic, usually it is easier to find organic red potatoes. But I like russets for baking. Sometimes trader joe's has them, but it is hit and miss. And they are definitely more expensive.

a) Not all varieties of potatoes will do well in this system. Some spuds will continue to produce tubers as you bury them, others will stop after a few inches.
http://tipnut.com/grow-potatoes/

b) PLEASE don't use tires! Tires are not safe for gardening and leach various nasty chemicals into the soil.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/ask-our- ... -safe.aspx

I would love to try it but I think our garden isnt sunny enough...

This is what i was coming here to post- if you look at the comments on any of these pages showing how to grow in towers you will find all sorts of tips about what types will work and what won't.

Yes, saw that! I'll do the ones...that work!

Okay, I scrolled through all of those comments and I saw someone say they grew sweet potatoes, but that's about it for specifics. I would love to grow purple potatoes because they are the prettiest color even after cooked, or sweet potatoes because my dogs eat them for dinner.

My plan is to ask the staff (at the nursery where I'll buy the seed potatoes) if the varieties I want are good for towers or not. I bet they would know that kind of thing.

From the tipnut article:
Greg from Irish-Eyes Garden City Seeds let me know that Yukon Golds, and all early varieties set fruit once and do not do well in towers. You only get potatoes in the bottom 6 inches, which is what I got. Late season alternatives to yukon gold are Yellow Fin and Binjte.

I really like Yukon Golds, but they are a waste in towers. Fine in regular raised beds, though.

i had wild (volunteer) sweet potatoes in my old house. they have beautiful foliage, and grow like nuts. they also attract stinkbugs like nuts. i didn't do anything to encourage them, i think you would more have to limit their growth by planting them in a restricted raised bed or something or they'll take over your yard.

I'm going to use another smart pot again. Those were really awesome. The trash can method is pretty cool too!

Torque, when you say sweet potatoes attract stinkbugs, do you mean that they draw them to the garden in general or would they work to as a companion plant to spare other plants? I haven't really met the stink bugs yet, but my parents said they were all over back home last year- i might tell my parents to try planting some if they would keep them away from other stuff!

jildez, i don't know what to say. we have about 10 different kinds of stinkbugs here. the SP's attracted brown ones, that didn't eat anything, they just liked to hang out under the leaves. they didn't do anything to deter the stinkbugs that killed my tomatoes, for example. i would skip it unless you plant them in a barrel or something, they volunteer for ever and ever, you'll never get rid of them.

yeah, it sounds like it wouldn't be worth it. I was talking to my mom this weekend and they live on the delaware/pennsylvania/maryland line and she wasn't sure she could even grow them because of temps and growing season. But, when i lived in iowa, i knew a west african woman who had them in her garden, she started them inside in the spring though- from sprouts in water on her windowsill.

Also, i like the trashcan idea (that would move more easily), but how do the plants get enough light in the beginning when there is just a little dirt?

We just planted potatoes in wooden boxes in our church community garden. I'll post in a few months on how they turn out.

We filled the can about halfway full of dirt so the plants are somewhat near the top. They're growing pretty well so far (cross your fingers).

I love this! Will have to try it this year since I don't have space for a regular garden anymore. Also, definitely try home-grown potatoes. I'm not the world's biggest fan of potatoes in general, but when I had them from my own garden, it was a taste explosion of amazingness. They were so good that I ate them plain and loved them (usually I douse 'em in a disgustingly unhealthy amount of margarine or bbq sauce). So, yeah. Grow your own potatoes!