Did you know you can grow potatoes in a container? It’s true! You can grow potatoes in a container and I’m going to attempt to show you how to do it with the video below. Growing potatoes in a container is ideal if you have limited gardening space like me!
Before you watch the video, I feel as though I should warn you about the lack of “greatness” to the video. I winged it the other night after Sienna had gone to bed. In other words, it’s not scripted, I didn’t fix my hair or get the leftover lasagna off my sleeve :P. And I gave some incorrect details in the video that I’ll write out correctly below the video. 🙂
There are a variety of containers you can use to grow potatoes, but I really like using a big plastic garbage can because it holds a lot. These potato grow bags also look amazing!
Here are the 10 steps to growing potatoes in a container:
Poke or drill several holes in the bottom of the garbage can.
Place your container in a spot that will get a lot of sun throughout the day.
Fill the bottom of the container with about 3 inches of soil.
Place 4 – 5 whole seed potatoes into the soil, making sure they’re evenly spaced.
Make sure the potatoes are completely covered by about two inches of soil.
Water the potatoes thoroughly.
Once the plants have grown to 7-8 inches in height, pour more soil into the container. The soil level should be about three inches from the top of the plants.
Water the plants as needed. (Everyday, unless the rain gets them good)
Each time the plants reach 7-8 inches above the soil level, pour more soil into the container, maintaining the soil at three inches from the top of the plants.
At the end of the season, dump out the contents of your container and dig all around the soil to get your potatoes!
Have you ever tried growing potatoes in a container?
So you want to decorate. Liven up your home with a new few things. The thing is, the piggy bank is pretty empty. But that doesn't have to stop you. There are plenty of ways to decorate on a budget, especially if you know where to shop.
Here are 5 places to shop when you're decorating on a budget:
Dollar stores
Dollar store decor is definitely cheap, price and quality wise, in most cases. But, dollar stores always seem to have a nice selection of candles, candle holders, vases, wall art and more. Not only do they have "pre-made" decor items, they provide a great selection of craft supplies so you can create your own unique decor. As another example, I recently purchased two simple wooden picture frames that I intend on using for framing some nice papers I own to add some colour to the walls.
Thrift stores
Thrift stores can be amazing places to go decor shopping. They often carry furniture, paintings, accessories, vintage fabric and more. If you find a piece of furniture you like, but it's a little on the worn side, you can always refinish, re-paint, or reupholster it. Old paintings and mirrors can be re-framed, or frames can be used for new pieces of art. Finally, clean, polish or spray paint the neat accessories you find.
Garage sales
Similar to thrift stores, garage sales can be a treasure chest full of cheap home decor items. While many items might need a little bit of TLC, you may find some beautiful items for sale simply because the sellers have changed their tastes.
Kijiji, Craigslist and Buy & Sell sites
If you're on the hunt for some new-to-you furniture, I think Kijiji, Craigslist and Facebook Buy & Sell sites are a great place to look. We recently were on the hunt for a new couch and love seat. I had been scouring the flyers a good sale, but nothing jumped out at me. It wasn't until a leather couch set appeared on a local Facebook group that I got excited. We ended up getting a great deal because we opted to purchase something gently used.
Homesense
Possibly the most expensive option on this list, Homesense is a great place to look for brand new lamps, pillows, bedding, baskets, dishes, towels, bathroom accessories and more at marked-down prices.
Where is your favorite budget-friendly place to shop?
I have an update on my container garden progress! There’s even some growth for me to show you. In other words, my attempts at container gardening is not a failure yet. 🙂
First up we have the lettuce. I bought a package of salad mix seeds so that we can have small lettuce leaves like the stuff you can buy in containers at the grocery store. I’ve always had success with growing this type of lettuce, after learning my first year of container gardening that they don’t like too much heat. These are the only containers I have in the front because it’s mostly shady out there. Don’t mind the white petals scattered throughout. We had a storm and the wind blew the blossoms down from the tree. It’s a mess out there.
We’ve got sprouts from the carrot seeds! I bought Little Finger carrot seeds. They’re only supposed to grow up to 4″ long, so they’re great for containers.
Here are my tomato plants (along with the carrots). I always buy tomato plants rather then seeds. I’ve heard they’re tricky to start from seed. they seem to be doing quite well and have grown a lot since I planted them.
The beans and peas are also starting to sprout! I planted the bean and pea seeds together in a big pot. We’ll see how that goes. The beans I chose are a Dwarf Runner Bean so they’ll be bushy and won’t need any staking. The peas are sugar peas that also have a bush type habit and are great for containers.
Here’s the big pot I used for the beans and peas. The garbage can in the back is where I still need to plant my potatoes. I’m planning on doing a separate post for that.
There you have it! That’s all I have to show you right now. How’s your garden growing?
