{Grow Your Own Potatoes} With Laura Watts of Cubit's Organics



Meet Laura Watts, The Face Behind Cubit's 


Hello New and Returning Readers! I am thrilled to share with you today a guest post from fellow blogger Laura Watts.  Laura is the face behind Cubit's, an etsy shop that sells rare, heirloom and organic seeds while blogging about gardening, local food and natural parenting over at www.CubitsOrganics.com Here's a great video featuring Laura and her helper Rebecca as they demonstrate their commitment to growing their own and eating local:  

Today Laura is going to share with you her creative methods of growing a garden in just about anything! 
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Potatoes are absolutely one of the easiest things to grow and you can plant them in just about anything.




For years we grew them in a series of old garbage cans that we had drilled holes in and even in a big flower pot in our old kitchen.







Then we moved on to growing a clawfoot bathtub full of potatoes which I somehow don't have a photo of.  This year its full of beans and greens.








This year I’m reusing some grow bags that were given to us and I have them growing in a completely neglected space.  It’s the retaining wall of our front yard and neighbours parking space.  There are some hanging and some just tucked behind my bicycle.


















 So to plant potatoes first you’ll need some seed potatoes.  You can either buy these specially or use ones from the grocery store that have grown eyes.  Its best to go organic as some grocery store potatoes have been treated so they wont grow eyes, but really most will work especially if you gently wash them. Be careful not to scrub off those eyes, that’s where the shoots are going to grow.




This year we're planting a combination of organic heirloom seed potatoes including Russian Blues and Purples as well as Rose Finn Apple fingerlings and a bag of organic red potatoes that sprouted on us by accident.


























 You can either plant the whole potato or cut them up.  It’s a matter of personal preference.  I cut mine in half, making sure there is at least one eye per piece and then leave them in a dark spot for the cut to heal over night.




 Potatoes need about 6 hours of sun a day. I have normally tucked them away somewhere sort of cool and find they fill a less than perfect corner of the garden. These ones are in a planter in front of the composter.







As they grow, you will add more soil, maybe every two weeks I add a shovel full or so.




After anywhere from 2-4 months the leaves will turn brown and die.  That’s how you know its time to harvest! Use your hands if possible as a trowel can really wreck the tender new potatoes. I have just dumped the entire pot over on the patio in the past.  Quick and dirty.




Planting, growing and harvesting potatoes are all excellent activities for kids.  You really can’t mess it up and digging for them at the end of the season is like a little treasury hunt. Also I haven't met a kid that wont eat a potato so its an excellent activity to show where our food comes from.

GIVEAWAY!!!



 Now a little give away.  Use the comments to tell us your favourite food to grow in a container for a chance to win a copy of Lara Lucretia’s An Illustrated Guide to Growing Food on your Balcony along with three packs of carrot, dill and leek seeds from Cubit's. This combo perfectly demonstrates companion planting with potatoes in that if they taste good together, they probably grow well together (ie potato leek pizza).






step by step recap
Find a large container with good drainage.
Prepare your seed potatoes.
Plant your potatoes in well draining soil.
Ongoing water and basic care.
Add more soil.
Harvest!
Eat!

So, what’s your favourite food to grow in a container? make sure to leave your email or twitter handle so we can contact you.
Giveaway is Closed
Winner will be chosen by random on June 30th, 2011 and will have 48 hours to respond with mailing address.


The Winner is Jessica of http://thegoodlittlelife.blogspot.com/! Congratulations!

True Random Number Generator  11Powered by RANDOM.ORG

25 comments:

  1. Looks great Julia! Thanks for having me.

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  2. Wow! Love your post! I will have to try this next year! I do grow some herbs on my balcony. I have 3 types of mint, 2 types of basil, some thyme and parsley and I can't believe how fast they grow! I really appreciate the fact that they are just a step away from my kitchen (I have a garden but it's in a community space)!

    senestrorsum@hotmail.com

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  3. Well, I just started growing my own spices (and I can't stop gushing about it!)
    I'm just fascinated by the process; how fast they grow and how fragrant they are, even at an early stage!

    I'd love to enter your giveaway (that illustrated guide seems perfect!)
    @weirdamiga on Twitter.

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  4. I love home grown potatoes. They are so much tastier than store bought. I am going to try growing them in containers to see if I can control the flea beetles that ravished my potatoes this year. I hope it works. Thanks for the post.

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  5. This post is perfect timing!! I'm going to be planting potatoes this very weekend... yeah! This is my first year gardening so I can't say really what I prefer to grow in containers but the two things I'm going to try this year is a blueberry bush and also a container garden of lettuce! Great post.

    Lindsay www.thesimplefamilyproject.blogspot.com

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  6. Your post brought back memories from when I was a kid and we'd plant rows and rows of potatoes. Thanks for the reminder of how easy they are to grow!

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  7. I love herbs and zuccini :)
    This year I planted a lot more than last year. I planted cucumbers, watermelon, goji berry, blueberries, strawberries, an apple tree, a tangerine tree, zuccini, avocado tree, raspberries and black berries. I'm hoping to really cute my grocery bills. I hope they flourish :) I would love to grow potatoes because that is my favorite food aside from avocado

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  8. I grow everything in containers as my soil is clay. I think one of my favourites to grow is squash. I love how quickly they grow, and I love watching them climb their trellises.

    My twitter: @kellycrochets

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  9. What a wonderful article! Thank you for sharing this! I love growing my herbs in containers right outside my kitchen door.

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  10. This is amazing, I am going to bookmark to try : ) I love the bathtub idea!

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  11. I am planting a ridiculous amount of tomatoes in my balcony garden. I'm also planting some awesome peppers.

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  12. such a great post! we grow most everything in containers- we have a small balcony so space is in high demand. this year we have planted chard and lettuce, beets, carrots, a bunch of herbs, some beautiful flowers for the bees, and a new experiment this year, potatoes! most of our seeds came from Cubits when spring fever hit (in february! ;) ) thanks for all the wonderful information!!

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  13. This book looks awesome; thanks for the chance! love to grown some tomatoes and peppers container / raised beds

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  14. I like to grow herbs in containers on my deck. Thanks for the giveaway!

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  15. I remember as a kid growing carrots in a container, I loved it! Now, I think strawberries are my favorite.

    dlogston(at)gmail(dot)com

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  16. Probably Basil but have also tried different lettuces that turned out well.

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  17. I live in the northern part of B.C Canada, so my growing season is very very short, and so I have to use container gardening and raised be gardening. My fav thing to grow in the containers, are my tomatoes, sunflower seeds, and huge zucchini's!
    bcbeaveratheart@gmail.com

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  18. I love planting strawberries in containers :)

    cmsatko@gmail.com

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  19. I like to grow herbs in containers.

    mrs.marcus2 at yahoo dot com

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  20. We like to grow peppers. Yum!

    lovelydomesticdiva (at) gmail (dot) com

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  21. I love to grow mint in my little containers! I'm a college student and don't have access to a garden so I make do with my portable containers! Mint is my favorite because I can use it to make tea as well as other yummy treats!

    jessica.j.fabela@gmail.com

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  22. Our favorite thing to grow in containers is strawberries.. my daughter loves to "check on them" every morning, water them carefully, and gets very excited when she sees one of them turning red!

    I would love to win - I've been looking into resources like this lately, and p.s. Friday is my birthday, so pick me, pick me! :)

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  23. I have to say that your post was inspiring... I have grown potatoes in a rubbermaid container and squash in old garden planters. I would love to be able to expand my knowledge and be able to grow more vegetables on my small patio. Please accept this as my entry. Thank you!

    Aliya D.
    aliyadaya(at)shaw(dot)ca

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  24. I love growing lettuce of all types in pots!

    talkingmomcents(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  25. Fantastic giveaway. I've always wanted to do container gardening but have been afraid of it. I did grow some herbs once. I would love to grow some pepper, potatoes, and tomatoes.

    cereza25 at yahoo dot com

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