Potato Growing in the Compost Bin
by Rachel Tayse • May 20, 2010 • Gardening & Pets • 7 Comments
When we had some red potatos sprouting in kitchen recently, Alex tucked them carefully in the corners of our backyard compost bin.
They are now over a foot tall. It used to be pretty shady back there but American Electric Power recently hacked away some tree branches and the plants may get more sun than before.
I see no reason to disturb the tubers. Having something rooted gives us another excuse to be lazy composters and not turn the bin this summer. When the leaves go brown, we’ll dig around and see if there are any spuds to harvest.
Last year we had an abundance of volunteer tomatoes and sunflowers but they seem to have not reseeded so well this year. Do you have any volunteers making their home in your yard?
I completely laughed out loud when I saw your title! We have potatos growing in our compost as well. We also have a tomato and a cucumber/zucchini/squash. I’ll have to share a picture with you
Haha! I hope your volunteers produce for you.
My cousin gave me the idea of growing potatoes in a container and I tried it for the first time this year. I got a 30-something gallon storage bin, cut some holes in the bottom for drainage and some holes in the sides to stick the potatoes in. Then I filled it with dirt and added my little tater chunks. They’ve actually started to sprout out of the holes and they are looking good. Since they are already down deep in the dirt I’m assuming that I don’t really need to do a lot of maintenance, but I’ve never grown potatoes before. Any suggestions?
You could, when the sprouts get 18 inches or so tall, add soil and straw mix to make up another foot of soil. The potatoes will send out more tubers at the top of that soil layer, so you could double your harvest.
When the potatoes flower, pinch off the flowers so the plants send more energy to the spuds.
Finally, to harvest, wait until the leaves turn yellow and brown. Dump your bucket and collect your potatoes!
That’s about it. Potatoes are easy, assuming no bugs get to them.
I have mushrooms growing in my compost bin. They are the type that helps the composting processes along.I don’t think they are the type that are safe to eat and I’m not going to try it.
.-= Condo Blues´s last blog ..Make a Compost Bin Out of a Plastic Storage Tub =-.
We have strawberries along the back of our garage. And our neighbor’s raspberry bush has decided to start baby bushes in our yard.
.-= Amber´s last blog ..Interview for Niteblade =-.
That’s so cool! I’m sure that if we didn’t plant anything in our garden, it would still go buck wild through the summer with volunteer tomatoes, ground cherries, sunflowers, and a bunch of vine plants. I keep pulling them up!