McGrath said: Chris--are you talking trashcans? Or conventional containers (in which I personally grow some potatoes as well)? ----McG
And I reply: Actually, Mike, I'm not the one doing the "trash talking". Where have we been?? Trash can potatoes is apparently the horticultural equivalent of ..dirt cake with gummi worms. http://www.ehow.com/how_4752880_dirt-cake-gummy-worms.html In other words, you can find explanations of varying quality all over the internet on all kinds of sites, just like the dirt cake recipe. I just found one description for garbage *bag* potatoes. I hadn't really seen all these directions about trash can potatoes till I took a look when Anna brought it up. And while the choice of containers may not have aesthetic appeal for some, I will say this about the method: It doesn't waste water, it allows people with no back yard *ir a shared yard they can't farm) or contaminated soil in the back yard to grow root crops and have success with an easy crop, and the potatoes don't cost $64 each due to designer containers. I have a lot of bittersweet vine in my back yard (man it comes back fast) and I suppose one could strip off the leaves and weave it around the tater can so it didn't look so darned plastic-y. When I was in Mexico more years ago than we can politely discuss here, I went out into the countryside in Jalisco to see what at the time was a radical project: A former Army officer was running a residential school for kids who came from "ranchitos", small farms far from other kids and therefore no local school The kids lived in, and the boys learned to iron and the girls learned to farm. This did not endear the gentleman with the fathers in particular, and it was a good thing he had the occupational background he had. Everybody did everything, in other words - everyone was going to be able to be independent and know life's basic tasks. One of the projects the kids were doing was gardening in garbage bags, because it was such an arid area that it the method made it possible to grow crops with small amounts of water. I think of it in about August or so when a dry spell makes the water seem to disappear into the ground and still leave the plants wanting more. Now it "crops up" again. Due to the lead in my soil, (barring results from planned further tests that could show me I can peel off two inches of soil and be in good shape) I will be growing my potatoes in a black feltlike container (marketing talk: "potato bin") picked up from Gardeners' Supply in a group garden club purchase. It is soft and foldable so I could conceivably go designer ape and slide the container into a basket or something to improve the looks of it. Come September, I look forward to exchanging potato recipes with Anna..... I won't be using my garbage can because it's too new for me to feel like poking holes in the bottom. Potatoes to be grown are Green Mountain (on the Slow Food Ark of Taste -- I'm convinced they will be amazing). did that answer your question? Chris Reid Stamford, CT -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20090306/bf6219a1/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
