The Potato Barrel

LB found a neat garden supply store that has these wonderful white plastic 50 gallon drum style barrels for only $15 each.

When I told LB about my potato barrel project, he was trying to think of something cost efficient to use. Container grown potatoes need a lot of space. I love growing vegetables in containers, and I get creative sometimes with my containers.

Five gallon sheetrock buckets were too small to produce any type of yield.

Metal 50 gallon drums get too hot here during the summer which is not good for the potatoes.

Black containers are also not recommended; high temperatures will occur and inhibit tuber formation.

Be careful also buying 50 gallon used drums because you might want to know what used to be STORED in them.

I don’t want to grow food in a barrel laced with petroleum or toxic chemicals.

Here is a picture of the barrel. This barrel is not entering a beauty contest, so don’t judge.

I have bought seed potatoes in the past. But I have also used older potatoes that are in my potato bin.

I love the taste of fresh dug potatoes. In my humble opinion, fresh dug potatoes taste LOTS better than supermarket potatoes.

Supermarket potatoes are often treated with a chemical to prevent the eyes from sprouting.

My homegrown fresh dug potatoes are not treated with anything except Tender Loving Care.

I will eat supermarket potatoes, chemical and all (yuck!), but I prefer our fresh dug taters.

I guess that is why I have them planted in four locations, including a Sweet Potato Patch.

And I also put out a late potato crop in the fall.

But you should once in your life (put it on your bucket list), eat a fresh dug potato.

I am not fussy about keeping potato types separate, I probably should be, but I am not.

I DO plant my sweet potatoes separate from my whites and reds. I don’t mix the sweet potatoes.

I will plant Idahos along with Yukon Gold and even throw in a Red Pontiac.

I am sure that Chuck, my county extension agent, would raise his eyebrow at my methods, but he would eat one of my baked potatoes TOO.

Red Pontiac is NOT a car. It is a variety of Potato.

I just LOVE Yukon Gold potatoes. The skin is just so soft on these, they make the best baked potato.

Go to recipe section for more on that.

Other potato varieties: Red La Soda (heat tolerant and great for Southern Gardens); Red Norland is a good all purpose potato available at Holland Bulb Farms. Holland Bulb Farms also has Brown Goldrush Russets, excellent for storage, boiling and baking.  Some white potato varieties that are good for storage include Irish Cobbler and Kennebec. Russet Burbank is a good white baking potato; Sebago and Crystal are both good northern varieties. Norgold Russets and Viking potatoes are good boiled, sauteed, OR baked. Holland Bulb also offers a really good Brown Yukon Gold seed potato with a great buttery taste.

The fingerling potatoes are absolutely delicious, “Lady Finger” is one variety.

I live in the deep south, our planting time for summer harvest crops usually falls around Easter, depending on the rains.

If we have March going out like a Lion, I wait to plant. If March is going out like a Lamb, I plant earlier.

I don’t really follow the Groundhog stuff. I just sort of get a feeling if it is going to rain and wash everything away or not.

Some folks swear by planting on Good Friday. No matter what. Not me. I just sort of let God tell me when it is time to plant. And He does.

Of course my garden area has usually been plowed with MULE several times by planting day.

By January I am already pulling out seed catalogs and chomping at the bit to get my hands in the dirt, and MULE comforts me.

After my fall crops are harvested, I clean the garden, and use MULE to till the earth for turnip greens.

Due to our mild winters, I can leave turnip greens in my garden all winter and unless we have a really unusually harsh winter, which RARELY happens here, we pull turnip greens all winter long.

I am covering this about rain because if you plant potatoes too early, and you get really heavy rains, the seed potatoes may rot.

Your seed potatoes should be cut so you have 1-3 “eyes” on them. (I wonder why they call them eyes?)

You also want to leave enough potato flesh to nourish the plants and give them something to grow on.

My seed potatoes are usually about 1/4 to 1/2 of an average potato.

There is an “Old Wives Tale” that chunks with one eye produce BIGGER potatoes and chunks with multiple eyes produce MORE potatoes.

Since we are barrel planting, the planting method will be different than trench grown potatoes.

LB has already punched a few holes around the base perimeter of the barrel for drainage.

Without drainage, rain water will hold in the barrel and cause the potatoes to rot.

We use dirt from our property, you could buy some but we just shovel in our own. I don’t get too technical, just say around 6″ of starter dirt.

When we eventually “dump out” the potatoes, we simply stockpile that growing medium until the next time, so if you do have to buy dirt, maybe you can reuse it for a fall crop or the next summer crop.

Our Lowe’s Hardware Store has some pretty good potting soil that runs about $1.50 a bag, and that could help if you don’t have access to dirt.

Next, I place my seed potatoes in the barrel on top of that dirt. Place them in the barrel, with the Eyes Facing Up.

They are now STARING at you.

I cover with about 4″ of dirt, lightly water, and leave them alone.

If it rains, I don’t water. If it does not rain for a couple of days, I spray the barrel down with water. I don’t “drown” them, I just “water” them.

When green foilage appears in the bottom of my barrel, I throw in more dirt to cover the foilage up.

The yellow looking foilage just recently “sprouted up” and will shortly turn green like the other.

You can see leaves and light sand in my growing medium. We live in a very wooded area, so I often have leaves in my stockpile.

That is ok.

I toss more growing medium (dirt) on top of these.

If the barrel is less than half full, I might continue to toss in more seed potatoes as I go if I have them on hand.

After the barrel is half full, I continue to add more dirt but not more seed potatoes.

Continue this foilage and cover process until the barrel is almost full. I leave about 4-5″ at the top free.

At this point, stop adding dirt. When the potato foilage turns yellow and dies, you can leave the potatoes in the barrel if you wish, some say a few weeks is ok. If you are having a wet spell, you might need to dig them to keep the foilage from resprouting.

You can dig immature potatoes for consumption, but for good sturdy storage potatoes, let the full process take its course.

If you do choose to “dig” in the barrel for some potatoes, dig CAREFULLY. You want to try to start from the outside edge and come in “up under” the potato so you don’t stab and scratch them. Best to dig on a dry day, and dry for a couple of days before storing.

Some use their hands; some use a potato hoe; some use a fork.

Of course, as soon as our barrel is CAREFULLY toppled over (LB helps me with this), I’ve already snagged about 9 potatoes. 3 for supper, 3 for the next supper, and 3 for lunch. Yum Yum.

I am drooling about the prospect of a freshly dug, soft baked potato, lightly buttered and salted, sprinkled with finely grated Mexican Cheese Blend. Fresh ground cracked Black Pepper on top. Maybe some crumbled cooked bacon? I sometimes add chili on top, too.

I love a big pot of southern cooked green beans, with small tiny potatoes cooked in with the beans. I will put that in the recipe section. I am getting SO HUNGRY!

LB said his Dad used to store his potatoes under the house. LB’s Dad was a big time gardener, he raised pigs too.

With LB’s folks, gardening was a necessity, not a hobby. That is how the family got fed.

Ideal storage conditions for potatoes are dark and cold and in a well ventilated area. NOT freezing. The area should be slightly HUMID, not DAMP.  Do not pile potatoes more than about 12″ deep, and do NOT wash before placing in storage.

I have an area set aside in our warehouse for this purpose, and we also have LB’s shop building that works well too.

Our diet includes one starch for lunch and one starch for dinner. This is usually a potato or pasta.

More often than not, it is a potato. I have TONS of ways to cook potatoes, without frying them. We do not eat “fried” food in the context of DEEP FRIED. We USED to. But we don’t now. We “lightly saute.” Everything here is pretty much “sauteed” in Olive Oil.

I have some GREAT RECIPES in the food section for fried foods, don’t get me wrong. We LOVE fried chicken, french fries, fried fish. But we changed our diet in March 2009 and have been really good to “stick to it.”

It is NOT a starve yourself diet. It is a change your life diet. So far, everybody here LOVES it and FEELS GREAT!

Since we eat starches twice per day, potatoes don’t last long here. So if we do store them, it is not for very long.

You could put the Potato Barrel project on your bucket list, and just wait and think about doing it.

Of you can go right now and get you a barrel and prepare to grow your own.

It is fun, they taste great, and you’ll feel proud.

Thanks for visiting!