Potatoes, Two Ways.

I've decided to try a couple methods of planting potatoes this year.  After last year's disastrous drowning (resulting in rotted potatoes and the loss of my entire crop), I kind of like having a "back up" supply of potatoes.

I'll likely wind up with far too many, but that isn't all bad.  Potatoes are always good for trade, or giving away, or gifting to friends.

Potatoes, the next hot Christmas gift...not.

Anyway, my first method is a bit on the traditional side: planted in a well-composted raised bed, mulched with three to four inches of rotten straw.

Eyes up and nestled in the rich earth, this seed potato is ready to grow.

This well-mulched bed has two pound of seed potatoes planted in it. 

My second method is a little less common:  galvanized garbage cans, riddled with drainage holes, and filled with a combination of rotted straw and compost.

These are the last of my winter store of potatoes, which are very happy to be planted!

Once situated in a deep well of compost, the seed potatoes are covered with straw.

A tidy line up, filled with about a pound and a half of seed potatoes.

I've planted two varieties this year.  One, my favorite, is an old variety called German Butterball.  They are yellow like Yukon Gold, but taste even more delicious with a wonderful texture and are good for frying, baking and mashing.  The second variety, well, I'm not sure what it is.  They are the last of the white potatoes I bought last fall from my little farming family at the Market--thin skinned, nice waxy texture, stored well.  It's probably a Nokato white or something, but I figured as they lasted until planting time, they'd make a good container experiment.

Everything will look much more impressive once the potato greens start poking up!  As the plants grow, I'll pile a bit more compost and straw around them, and fill the galvanized bins a little more.  Hopefully, come September, I'll have a bumper crop of potatoes to last me through the winter.