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My husband goes fishing, I go shopping. Internet shopping that is. In my younger days I wondered just what kind of people actually used home shopping as a form of entertainment. Well, move to rural Idaho and it too can be your life. Our nearest big town is Boise, which is a little over two hours away. Not the closest thing when one just wants to see what's out there. Then lightning fast DSL enters our small town (pop. 816) and I am on fire. Shopping this way fits my OCD personality. I can comparison shop with multiple tabs open for different stores and I never even had to get dressed. Love it :)
I also ordered 6 of these cool babies. The Potato Bin from Gardener's Supply is a product made by Smart Pots. You can get these cloth bins/pots from either place and I suggest you check them both as sometimes the manufacturer is cheaper and sometimes Gardener's is cheaper. Never can tell. I actually got them for $9.50 each from Gardener's Supply which is down from the regular price of $12.50 and cheaper than from Smart pot at $9.95. These pots can be used for more than one year and are a strong cloth used by many nurseries to grow stock. The simple design allows for good drainage, root pruning performed by the air itself, and are lighter than regular pots. The idea is that you plant about 4 seed potatoes into each 15 gallon bin and add more dirt as the plants grow. I think this is similar to the tire growing method, just not as ugly. In a good season one can hope for a yield of roughly 10-13 pounds per bin. I am sure that varies by type of potato used.
This will be our first attempt at growing potatoes. One would think that living in the potato state, potatoes would be dirt cheap. Just try to find an Idaho grown potato in the great state of Idaho. Good luck. So here is my answer to that dilemma. Traditional growing in a hill just doesn't appeal to me, I want neat and orderly without using too much lateral space. We will see how this experiment goes too. I will keep you updated.
Heather,
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun project. Ever try fingerling potatoes? The farmer that did our foundation(ok he's a mason too) grows them and sells them at the local farmers market. I like the rosy colored ones they grow and others. If I recall about $2 a pound, but so tasty. Last week we planted 5# of red "new" potatoes and a handful of fingerlings that were sprouting in the pantry.
BTW I finally got to pick you first...
That looks like a great idea. I hope you have great success. You sound a lot like me. I love doing the comparison shopping online, and get so excited when I find a good deal.
ReplyDeleteHow fun! I ordered some garnet (?) sweet potatoes from Burpees a month ago - they're supposed to ship sometime this month. They're going in the ground though with some pole beans over top for double the bounty in the same space. The pots are intriguing though... I wonder what a 200 gallon pot looks like. Thanks for the heads up on the pots! I'd never heard of them.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy growing potatoes. They are quite easy to grow. In fact, I was just digging some the other day. I have a post coming up about a common potato insect I had never seen before. Be on the lookout for it.
ReplyDeleteWe are living at 5 km from the capital, Bucharest, so for me is easy to shop phisically, let's say. :) We have a very good garden and house items, Hornbach is called. Around 20-25 minutes away. But I didn't tried vegetables except onion before. My mother, for exchange, has a large area where she grows vegetables, different kind.
ReplyDeleteI hope that the potatoes will be great in your garden and maybe you will make french fries this year!
Good luck with your potatoes Heather, I'll keep watching to see how ya do. Finding potatoes in Idaho must be like trying to buy king crab in SE Alaska! Fortunately I worked at the crab canery for a while and you could eat all ya wanted - Yum!
ReplyDeleteCountry living is the best even if ya do have to drive a ways to get anywhere - Sounds like you're a lot farther out than I am though.
Heather, you are starting quite a large potato operation, huh?! I have read some good reviews of those bags. Can't wait to see how they work out for you!
ReplyDeleteWhat kind(s) of potatoes are you growing?
You live in Idaho and need to grow potatoes? LOL Who would have thought! :-) I wish you well with the potato bags -- and look forward to reading your updates this season.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for dropping by my blog! :-)
Hi Heather, right now we have quite the collection growing on my kitchen counter: an avacado, mint, and a potato..all from the grocery store! I wished I had the space to grow potatoes so let us know how your spuds do. Here, we are always searching for Jersey tomatoes!
ReplyDeleteThey are on my list to grow this year. My Dad used to grow them. The EM is supposed to be making me a bin but I see no progress so I may have to resort to these. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHmmm...I have been wanting to try potatoes for a few years now...maybe I'll give them a try this year. I think these sound very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI am going to order a couple of these pots to try. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteThat's a neat little idea!
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that you are growing potatoes! I've never tried it! It does seem hard to believe that it's hard for you to find them where you live! I mean, it isn't hard for my husbands family to find Lobster in Maine! Oh well, at least you grow them and I hope will have a very successful and generous crop;-)
ReplyDeleteThis technique reminds me of an article I read in Organic Gardening many years back. The principle was the same, they just recommended a circle of chicken wire fencing as the container. That way, at the end of the season, you can just "unhook" the ends of the fence and out pour the spuds! I've never tried it, so I'll live vicariously through you for a bit and see how your experiment goes!
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