Our success with backyard grown potatoes has been mixed.
Our first year, we were mildly successful with the few random sprouting potatoes we had in the pantry that we stuck in some dirt. Not very intentional, but it worked out OK and we got a few yummy spuds for our effort.
The second year, we purchased some German Butterballs from Seed Savers Exchange and used an old kiddie pool to plant them in. They did pretty well, though really not as well as we’d hoped.
Last year we planted some more German Butterballs. This time we planted most of them in one of our new raised beds and a few in out kiddie pool with new soil. The result was not incredibly exciting. We only got a few potatoes out of the bed, while the pool fared a bit better. Still, it was quite disappointing.
This year we have ordered 5 lbs German Butterballs and 2.5 lbs All Blue and are planning to plant some in buckets/large trash cans and some in rolled up wire fencing. I’m not sure if our challenges have been brought about by the locations we’ve chosen, the growing medium or some other, unknown factor but I am incredibly hopeful that we will be able to harvest more than just a few pounds of potatoes next fall.
Are you planting potatoes somewhere on your plot? Do you have any magic tricks to getting them to produce more than pretty foliage and a few spuds? I’d love to hear about your experiences, tips and tricks!
xoxo,
M
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Thank you Bee Girl!
Kurt just picked up some large trash cans for free from a neighbor, they were tossing them because they had ‘slits’ on the bottom! We have 3 of them now! I’m going back to the farm tomorrow to pick up some hay from a friend (free) and some seasoned compost (free). Yep I’m very, very frugal 😉 I’ll be getting these taters in by Thursday.
I’m going to also plant in pallet boxes and vertical, in the front yard.
You can take the girl off the farm, but the farm never leaves her soul!
Thank you for your blog and kind words! xo
Oh yay! It sounds as though you’re all set, Peggy! It’s coming together perfectly 🙂
(BTW-Thank you for *your* kind words!!!)
Hi there!
Well I ordered some great heirlooms and yep they got here 2 days ago, so I’m already off to a late start here in Sacramento California.
Second, I’m no longer on 10 acres, so I have too many potatoes.
Third, We are reno’ing the 1956 cottage that we bought and our yard is a mess.
Fourth, I’m going to try your kiddie pool method, because honestly we don’t have time to make raised beds or till the yard.
Finally, I have to ask…What size kiddie pool should I get? I’ve never done it this way, so I’m clueless. OR, can I use 5 gal buckets?
I love your site and appreciate any advice.
Many thanks, from a transplanted farm girl who is now in urban-hood.
Peggy
south47th
Hi Peggy! And WELCOME!
Sounds as though you are on quite the journey! Wow! I am so happy to hear that, in the middle of reno-ing your home, you are still passionate about keeping a veggie garden! So very awesome!
My best recommendation would be to use a large trash can (just drill some holes along the bottom for drainage). we used the kiddie pools because we had them left over from our dogs and didn’t want to just toss them. If you have an option, use a trash can 🙂 It’ll take up less horizontal space and has worked well for us in the past!
Best of luck! now I’m off to check out some more of your blog!
Potatoes always seem to like more food than I think they do, as well as less warmth. Mine seem to do best when I grow them in our Spring (which is cool to start and mild to hot at the end) and when I feed and water them pretty liberally.
I do believe you’re right, Liz. This year we will baby our potatoes a bit instead of trusting they’ll be OK. The difference in quality will pay us for our efforts in the end 🙂
I don’t have much success with potatoes. My father-in-law (who lives up the road) has great success with everything in the garden. So, we get our potatoes from him. Actually, I ask him for gardening tips but he usually grunts and mumbles some stuff and shows up the next day with a bucket of garden-fresh goodies. This by far, is my best gardening success 😉
Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
Your father-in-law sounds like quite the character! I wouldn’t mind living down the road from him 😉 Hopefully, one day, he’ll share a few tricks!
Oh, this worries me… I’m planting German Butterball for the first time, in a raised bed… they have been in the ground for two weeks now. I’m hoping to have a decent return from them. I’ll write about my yield too, and I did plant five pounds red seed potatoes “just in case”.
I’m not sure that it’s the raised beds that are an issue (although our super dry, hot weather may be in addition to the raised beds). I really think it’s about the growing mediums we’ve chosen. This year we’ll use a mixture of amended soil and straw and we’ll fertilize it a few times throughout the season.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for both of our crops 🙂