My kids don't like potatoes in any other form but french fried. This makes me a little sad. I wonder, is it because I don't buy/cook them very often so they're not exposed to them? I mean, they eat everything else (except asparagus, which I'm working on too) so what's the deal with no mashed potatoes or baked potatoes? It kind of sucks..
Which leads me back to the reason for this blog - If you grow it they will come... or is it, If they grow it, they will eat it?
Here are the spuds Little Manster and I and chose at the garden store.
Organic red. He doesn't know a potato from an onion at this point, so it was the little shoots (or 'swords' as he called them) driving up through the potato that really captured his interest. (REMEMBER - You must buy SEED POTATOES to grow more potatoes, don't use a regular old baking potato from Trader Joes)
A year ago I bought some old wine barrels on Craig's List.
They're cheap, can go on concrete, and are great for growing anything from veg to flowers. But you can use anything for your potatoes - a pot
or a planter
a garbage bag..
(here's a cool link to planting potatoes in a garbage bag - http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-grow-potatoes-in-a-trash-bag/index.html)
Some say you should cut up the potatoes, let them sit out for a day or two before planting, but I don't have that kind of time, or patience, frankly. I'm willing to see what happens doing it the easy way. I'm a risk taker like that. Most important thing is to have 2 eyes/shoots per potato, and these do, so let's get 'em in the ground, I say!
I had the kids space them about 3-4 inches apart. I didn't get a ruler or anything. 'They' say that the deeper you plant them the more potatoes you can yield. We went middle of the road.
Popping them in the soil and covering them took all of one minute. In this barrel we planted 7 or 8. Water when the soil gets dry and see what happens! That's kind of part of the fun -
BTW, THIS WOULD BE A GREAT PROJECT FOR THOSE IN THE COOL WEATHER CLIMATES RIGHT NOW!
Hi Laura,
ReplyDeleteLove your wine barrel potatoes. Trying to talk the old guy here to make ONE raised bed for a veggie garden. He's close to caving.
It's so easy, Marianne! I'm going to have the hub guest blog one day about building one!
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I'm going to forward your blog to my son and DIL. They always have a garden and my granddaughter likes to help. I even gave her a little gardening kit when I visited last. She eats most everything too. But why would you work on getting them to eat asparagus? It's nasty. ::grin:: That and Brussels sprouts are on my "Do Not Eat" list.
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