Potted Potatoes

by Barb
(west coast of Canada)

When my children were young and we lived in the country, I was blessed with a huge garden. We grew potatoes by rows, heavily mulched with thick flakes of hay. There were enough potatoes to eat all winter and still have some to use for planting the following spring.

Then I moved to the west coast, across the road from the ocean. I was told that potatoes didn't do well here. I tried planting some in the ground, but they didn't amount to much at all. I solved the problem by planting them in huge black pots for proper drainage...four eyes to a pot.

I prepared the pots by adding washed sand, leaves and composted vegetable matter to the garden soil. I fed them strong comfrey "tea" that I made in large batches from the comfrey plants growing near the woods at the back of the garden.

The plants grew tall and lush. When it came time to harvest them, I simply laid an old shower curtain by the pot and upended it. I was rewarded with about ten pounds of good-sized potatoes per plant pot.

The huge black slugs were another problem, until I wrapped a strand of copper wire around each pot. Apparently, the copper gives the slugs a shock if they try to cross it. It worked!

Now I'm on the hunt for some tires, unless I can find even larger pots for potatoes.

I'll certainly be checking out this great potato site for hints and recipes.