PIXIE POTATOES

SPOONING UP SOME PIXIE POTATOES

Early this spring I thought it would be fun to plant two potatoes that had sprouted before I had a chance to cook them.  I knew absolutely nothing about growing potatoes.  I checked into how to  grow potatoes in containers..  It seemed pretty simple.  Get a well drained container, fill with well drained, loose soil, plant potatoes in it, and water  it.  Ok.  Simple enough.  Then I read on a blog that if you put a couple of Tums antacids into your vegetable pots it helps the plants grow.  So I dosed my potatoes with 2 Tums tablets. 

POTATOES BEFORE TUMS IN LATE SPRING

After the Tums,  my two potatoes' sprouts leafed out, grew upward, and outward, and continue to thrive.  I wondered what to do next and looked up container grown potatoes again.  Come to find out,  I was supposed to have "hilled" my potatoes a long time ago. Apparently, one is supposed to put dirt around the potato vine as it grows.  Who knew?  Not me.   The problem is that I originally planted the potatoes just a bit under the soil at the top of a Styrofoam cooler that I had punched holes in for drainage.  There was no way I could "hill my potatoes" without the soil overflowing the current container. 
My next brainstorm was to buy another $2.50 Styrofoam cooler and cut the bottom out of it and put holes in the sides for circulation and stack it inside of the original container, like sliding it into a sleeve, so that I could put more soil into it so there would be room to "hill my potatoes". 


TWICE-AS-TALL POTATOES AFTER TUMS.  GROWING  OUT OF THE TOP OF THE SECOND CONTAINER. 
THE FRONT OF THE BOTTOM STYRO COOLER IS BULGING, MAYBE WITH POTATOES?

When I started to try and stuff the rampaging potato vines up through the newest Styro cooler, I found the tiny little "Pixie Potatoes" right at the top of the soil.  Apparently there were going to be more potatoes whether  I "hilled" my potatoes or not.  My plan of inserting the second Styro cooler into the first one didn't quite pan out as I thought it would. The soil was in the way of sliding it down far enough into the original container to create a continuous sleeve. You can see the sides of the bottom container slightly bulging.  I believe it may be bulging with potatoes.  I think I felt potatoes down in there when I poked my finger in the soil.  I don't know how long they are supposed to be left to grow.   We shall see.  I don't know exactly when potatoes are supposed to be harvested.  I guess I will figure it out.  I can't wait to see if I manage to harvest any more potatoes.  Maybe something a tad bigger than Pixie sized.


PIXIE POTATOES

In the meantime,  maybe some Garden Fairies will come by for some Pixie Potatoes in my Fairy Herb Garden.  The tiny leafed/flowered plant that the little potatoes and cornucopia are on is called "Corsican Mint", used in making crème de menthe liqueur.