taters project

was talking recently to fave customer Bonnie (please check out her solar cooking class too-pretty sweet!) about various adventures in growing food and she shared a tip that she has been using to grow potatoes. as she sat there talking about the large flower pots she was using and how the taters were doing really well, it dawned upon me that my poor little whiskey barrel was just barely popping out a few yellow cherry tomatoes...time to change things out.
so during the weekend i decided to go to the Irvine Farmers' Market to pick up some cool looking taters and see what happens...

(sprouting taters ready for planting)

when i got back home, i bid farewell to my wilting tomato and pepper plant and harvested the last of the onions. i checked the moisture of the barrel (which FYI, you need to drill some serious holes on the bottom-they get nasty if you do not have proper drainage) and did a few rotations of the soil.
according to Bonnie-this is what you do to have happy taters:
-get some taters and let them sprout, if they are big ones, cut them in smaller pieces-just make sure you have at least a couple "eyes" on each piece.
-let them dry for a few days in a sunny window
- lay them in hay (i did a small bed of soil w/hay on top)..when they start sprouting though, add more straw
-when the taters flower or when the shoots start to wilt it is time to enjoy!

(i simply placed the cut taters in some damp soil and covered with straw)

let's see how this turns out!

note: i have heard of tire-taters, or growing taters in tires. while i am all for the tire gardens, i cannot validate how safe it will be to have tires around food (and heat from the sun!)...let me know if you do this.