Purple potatoes and laundry baskets

[jennywrenwrites]

I was looking at a Burpee catalog and my son decided I needed to buy purple potato sets for our garden this year. Simultaneously my mother told me about using a cheap laundry basket plant potatoes in by adding soil at the bottom then adding straw over the top of the plants as they grow until you end up with a basket of potatoes.

 

[lovinglife]

How many potato seeds would you put in a laundry basket?

 

[headfullofbees]

A little bigger, but...
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-grow-100-pounds-of-pota-81760

 

[jennywrenwrites]

How many potato seeds would you put in a laundry basket?

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin1 LOL. That question just struck me funny for some reason!

I think two in case one doesn't grow.

 

[jennywrenwrites]

A little bigger, but...
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-grow-100-pounds-of-pota-81760

That's cool. Thanks for the link. Once I read all I can then I will implement potato growing action. That article is a great help. Have you tried purple potatoes?

 

[headfullofbees]

I only grow new potatoes, and have never grown purple ones.
Are they nice?

 

[sissy]

They taste mostly the same but all the different colors really look pretty .I have been growing all the colors for 15 years or more .New small potato's are the best

 

[maddie]

I would love to have some purple potatoes.. we don't have them here. I have been thinking about ordering some purple tomato seeds from a site I have been following. I really wish I had more space to experiment with these plants.

 

[LindaKay]

Wow, thanks for that link. I am already learning so much from reading this forum. I would love to plant my own potatoes, especially red and purple ones. They would look so pretty in all of my dishes, and I think they would taste so much better just because I knew that I planted and grew them. I really like the idea of planting them in a laundry basket...that is so neat! Let me know if you try it...I would LOVE to see how that works out. According to that link, you can start potatoes as late as August, but I'd love to start them much sooner than that...like this weekend, hopefully.

 

[Jed]

I grow a purple skin variety. Locally they are called Blue Tartans. I googled it and it appears it's a Scottish potato called a Edzell Blue. Their flesh is still a white colour. I've always wondered about the purple colour with vegetables. They may be more frost and insect hardy.

 

[papillon]

Talking potatoes, I have some in the kitchen that are starting to sprout. Can I plant these in the garden to grow a new plant or do I have to buy special seed potatoes? I thought I read somewhere that store potatoes are treated to stop them growing.

 

[Jessi]

Talking potatoes, I have some in the kitchen that are starting to sprout. Can I plant these in the garden to grow a new plant or do I have to buy special seed potatoes? I thought I read somewhere that store potatoes are treated to stop them growing.

You're right that they are usually treated with a retardant of some sort. It only slows how quickly they will sprout, though. It doesn't stop it entirely, so you can still use them once they start sprouting like that.

 

[firelily99]

They taste pretty much like what most potatoes taste like. I don't use the 'tatoes from the store, I buy the sets from an organic grower. The thing with potatoes they grow like a vine which is all over the place so you need to plan space accordingly.

 

[claudine]

I'd love to grow purple potatoes! Somehow, I didn't think that I could plant them in a container, it sounds like a really good idea! Even if they taste the same as the regular ones, I still want to try them. It would be very funny to eat purple fries

 

[Bandit26]

I started mine a few days ago in grow bags. First time doing potatoes and I went with the purple ones just because they are different and fairly expensive to buy locally compared to the other traditional varieties.