I Grew Potatoes in Containers
Note: Since posting this video I’ve learned that my potatoes plants were not sick. They were just dying off like potato plants do.
This was my first year really experimenting with a potato crop. I used old potatoes I found in a bowl on my countertop as seed potatoes, and I also used the slips that they'd grown, to maximize my production. Peek-a-boo garden containers: https://amzn.to/3wCAqdN
Things were going really well and everything was looking healthy and beautiful until the pests settled in. I did my best to mitigate the damage, as I hilled up dirt around the potato plant stalk as it grew, and when it had reached its full height, I planted marigolds in the containers to help deter any new pests. It didn't really work that well, but I'll still try that method again next year, with more marigolds, and earlier on.
Eventually the plants started looking pretty sick. I think they might have caught potato blight, so I thought my crop was toast. In mid-July, however, I got an itch to dump out one of the plants to see if any potatoes had actually grown, and to my surprise, there were quite a few decent sized ones in the first pot that I tackled. Since all the plants looked pretty sick, I decided to harvest them all, to try and save the crop.
Altogether I had eleven 5 gallon pots, so I had the potential to grow a lot more than I actually did, but the fact that I got any potatoes, much less 10 pounds of potatoes, was super exciting to me. I will definitely be growing potatoes again next year, and the goal is to start with a blight resistant variety, so I can increase my chances of having healthy plants all season long.
Hi, I’m Kristen!
I envision a world where you and I rediscover what it is to be human, through connection with ourselves, each other and the natural world around us.