Potato Sack

(L) dirt bin, (R) potato sack

If you hadn't guessed, the theme of my posts this week is gardening. Yes, gardening. Get over it. Unless you're totally psyched like me, then don't get over it because I'm giving you a high-five through the computer.

So, you can grow potatoes in a sack, did you know that? I didn't until sometime last fall when I was disgusted at my lack of potato production and was looking for an alternative way to grow potatoes. Normally potatoes will grow in clay soil, but we had such a wet start that they almost all rotted in the ground. Out of 40 "seeds" I harvested about a dozen potatoes. Yes, only three plants lived and those little potatoes were pretty pathetic. But I threw them in the cupboard anyhow.

And do you know what happened? They sprouted in my cupboard. So, I decided maybe February wasn't a bad time to try out this potato sack method. I even had a handy-dandy empty cat food bag to test it out on.

Materials:
A large bag (trash bag, cat food bag, whatever. Make sure it's big, my cat food bag is the 20lb kind)
Drip tray or bag
Seed potatoes
Potting soil

Step 1: Prep your potatoes - just like you would for planting in the ground.
Step 2: Put a 2" layer of damp potting soil in your bag. If it is plastic, cut some slits for drainage and put a tray or another, uncut, plastic bag underneath.
Step 3: Put in your sprouted potatoes, sprouts facing up.
Step 4: Cover with 1" of damp potting soil (I mix the water directly into the soil in my dirt bin)
Step 5: Put them in a sunny location.
Step 6: Let them grow and water as needed. Just like outdoor potatoes, when they reach 8" or so cover with more soil and/or straw to within 2" of the top.

I'll keep you posted on how well my February potatoes grow. I figure it's no real loss, if they die I can reuse or compost the soil, and it's not like they were very usable sprouting in the cupboard.