Garbage Bag Potatoes

I’ve checked my trash can potatoes every day. It’s been two or three days now and I do not see green leaves poking through the dirt. It’s a good thing because I’m going to have to go to the city compost center to get more compost. First it was raining and they were closed and then their screen machine was down and they didn’t have any compost left by the time I arrived.

This inspired me to start my compost pile after I saw P. Allen Smith demonstrate one on his television show. It’s in another trash can. That’s a different story though…..

At any rate almost a week after I covered the potatoes the first time, I finally saw some green poking out. Only three days later they exploded with growth and I had to get on the ball to get them covered. I’m so ready for the harvest. I planted the following varieties, one variety per can: Blue potatoes, Gold Yukon, Red and Russet. The Blue potatoes actually have blue-tinted leaves. It’s really exciting to watch them grow.

By the time I managed to get compost this week, it took almost three buckets per can to cover up the potatoes. The object of this (according to the articles I researched) is that every time you cover the plants you get a new layer of potato growth. You keep covering each batch until you fill the can with compost. After the can is full, you let the plants continue growing until harvest time. At the rate these potatoes are growing, I’ll have my buckets filled up about 6 weeks after I started the process.

The picture is one of the sets that I started in the garbage bag.