Grow potatoes in container or trash / garbage can - 2012 gardening tutorial

Tips, Tricks

1. very informative....should I plant potato for each layer or just one time on the first layer?
2. Very helpful - thank you very much.
3. Thanks for the video! Do you need miracle-grow?
4. Thanks for the video, it was very informative. Me and my son planted potatoes for the first time today in a big bin, we had a lot of fun and I think it's important to do things like this with your children as it teaches them life skills and certainly beats buying them from the supermarket!
5. At the end of the season (or actually the following spring) I put the used potato bin soil into a wheelbarrow and refresh it by mixing in more perlite & vermiculite, my own compost, Azomite and some organic fertilizer (I thoroughly recommend Espoma products).  Now it can be reused  for my big flower pots.  
   I do the same thing the following season by dumping the used flower pot soil into a wheelbarrow, refreshing it the same way, and then using it for peas, beans, leafy greens, melons, cucumbers, etc,. pots, tubs & bins. 
   Since you must leave at least 2 years in between using for the solanaceae (potato/tomato/pepper) family, I achieve a three-year crop rotation with the soil.  As you can imagine, I have a constant rotation of my big pots.  I use pots because I have limited sunny garden space (too many big trees). 
   I actually keep one garden cart (Ames) solely for refreshing the soil that has come from the tomato family pots, tubs & bins to cut down on cross-contamination.  Oh, and wash & sterilize the tomato family growing pots, tubs & bins at the end of the season.
6. Do there need full sun, or can i plant near a stream in the woods where they will get plenty of water?  
7. Straight forward and easy to hear, great video on how-to!
8. Lovely! Thank you for the post. (I love your sweet southern drawl too!)
9. A small children's plastic swimming pool works well also.
10. I couldn't afford the number of totes I wanted for my potato planting so I bought laundry baskets from the dollar store. Just lined them with large cut open plastic bags and poked holes in the bags were the slots were in the laundry baskets. Works great for people who don't have a lot of money to spend.
11. Another good cheap way to lower the acidity of soil is to add elemental sulfate or flowers of sulfate (although elemental sulfate is far cheaper). You can get it from seed and feed companies. I get mine for 2 bucks per kg (2.2lb). Crop rotation is fine for used soil, you can reuse soil immediately after you've harvested your potatoes providing that what you are planting in the soil is not a member of the nightshade family (Solanaceae) eg; tomatoes, peppers, eggplant etc. I plant sweet potatoes straight after potatoes after harvesting them. Sweet potatoes are a member of the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae). So the chances of cross contamination is slim.
12. Thank you, for the tips. I'm planting potatoes for the 1st time, using a laundry basket, and I am watching different videos for ideas. I wanted to clarify some things, and you did clarify a few things... such as, not reusing the soil for the garden the very next year, drilling holes in the container, getting the soil acidy, and when to hill up the potatoes.
    
    I'm using just one basket this year (as a test), and potato stems are growing fast. I didn't use potato seeds or seeding potatoes from the store, though. I just cut up a couple of potatoes from the cupboard that had eyes on them, into 5 pieces, and planted them. The basket MIGHT be a little too small, but that's what I'm going to find out when I harvest them.
    
    I don't have pine needles here, but I do have Arborvitae trees, there is lots of dead foliage on the ground from them. I'm thinking, they might put some acid into the soil. The potato stems seem to be growing faster than anything else in the garden, including the tomatoes, which seem to never have trouble producing. Again, thanks.
13. How much sun should these get?
14. Awesome, Precise presentation! Thanks.  I'll be sure to drill holes on the SIDES of the Barrel next time...Good point!
15. Been a little nervous on growing potatoes in the ground because of potato bugs. Fixes that problem. Great video.
16. This is great!
17. AWESOME! im trying it!
18. YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL! I'm going to try this now! Wish me luck! 
19. Excellent video.  Thanks
20. MiracleGro is not organic!
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