Sunday, March 9, 2014

Bucket Potatoes and Other Greenhouse Plantings

Inspired by Mark's potatoes every year, I have finally gotten around to do my own this year. I don't how they will fair in the heat and I maybe should have started them earlier but we'll see how it goes. I had one of these big round tubs with the rope handles.

And remember those old tools I bought a long while back at a yard sale for a dollar each. The hand drill works really good for putting holes in plastic.

I got my dirt from the old duck pen.


I added perlite to it and slow release fertilizer.


Here is my bag of seed potatoes. As you can see they are Red Pontiac.


I have had them a couple of weeks and they were growing pretty good in that bag.


I planted some in nice and deep but there were several more left so I went and got the largest pot I could find (I think it is a 5 gallon one) and repeated the process.


I will add more dirt as they grow and there are still some left so I might just go raid the greenhouse again for more pots.

I also planted lettuce in these little containers. Both are leaf varieties: Grand Rapids and Prizehead (funny name for a lettuce that doesn't really form a "head").


My only other planting was a cherry tomato plant that I bought yesterday. It's pot is only around a one gallon so might not be big enough but I am hoping it will cascade down from my top shelf and produce some tomatoes anyway.


That's all I got planted for today. It was so warm out I was really sweating doing this and the greenhouse was very hot inside even with the door open.

14 comments:

  1. I keep thinking I need to start some greens in pots because it is so cold out and I want to start my seeds already. I'm not sure the seeds I started (a week late too) will be plantable in three weeks. The ground might still be frozen unless we get some good weather. Tomorrow looks promising at least even if snow is in the forecast.

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    1. I hope to start a few more next week and maybe a few more after that so I can have some fresh lettuce every few weeks --until we get too hot for it to grow.

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  2. Hi Becky! I like the idea of planting potatoes in a pot. I hope they turn out well for you! I guess it's safe to put plants in the greenhouse now, but Wednesday night it's supposed to get really cold. You might want to check your local weather and make sure everything will be alright in there. Thanks for sharing! Have a nice day! Blessings from Bama!

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    1. Yes, we are supposed to drop down on Wednesday too but I think the weather report yesterday said only 38 degrees so everything should be safe in the greenhouse. It was a lot colder last week and the houseplants in the greenhouse were fine.

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  3. I'll be planting my potatoes in the next few days. I bought new seed potatoes this season and I'm excited to try them out. Your tomato sure looks healthy!

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    1. The tomato was bought and just planted in that pot, no real work on my part.

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  4. We tried potatoes in a bucket once and it was a huge failure. But we are really limited on space at our new place so maybe I'm going to have to give it another try. It always seemed like a great idea but I kept forgetting to water them!

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    1. Yeah, I don't know how well they will do but I hope to get a few anyway. I am real bad about watering things too :(

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  5. Buckets and containers are a great way to grow potatoes. It looks like you had a nice warm day to plant, or at least sunny.

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    1. It was in the 70's which made the greenhouse much warmer than that.

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  6. Hi Becky, I really enjoy when you starrt planting so, I can watch things start to grow when I am surrounded with snow and cold weather.

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    1. We are planting a lot later this year John. They are still calling for 30 at night next Monday. I am hoping after that we can really start planting.

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  7. How awesome to see warmth! You know Mark has such good luck with his container grown potatoes, I hope you do too!

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    1. I am hoping so too. I am probably not as attentive as he is though :(

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