Growing Things! Part 2

Summary from growing things part 1: I’m bad at growing things, had tomato success, Kale failure and was pretty darn proud of myself. In Part 2 we are looking at my attempt at trash can potatoes and how to grow through the winter blues.

So after my tomatoes seemed like that may have something going on I was hooked, what else can I do? So I started searching for other things that thrive in pots and was totally captured by trash can potatoes. In true lazy girl style I did not have a free trash can to drill holes in, but I did have a much bucket! So let the games begin.

Step 1. Beg my other half to drill holes in the muck bucket (because he happened to already be holding the drill).

Step 2. Buy potato starters. Now you can get these from your own potato stock pile, but I like to start with having the basics a sure things for my first adventures.

Step 3. Find dirt. Well in my case I very half-bummed a compost bin from an old bag style yard waste holder that came with my house. Dumped the bag out which had mostly yard waste found two years of throwing stuff in there provided some good soil at the bottom and used it to fill my bin.

Step 4. Lots of layers. Place your potato starters in (its very important to make sure they are protected from sunlight as this can ruin your potatoes) making sure they are fully covered in soil. Then once the green shoots appear you can add an additional layer of dirt and plant more potatoes and so on. Water as needed about weekly.

Step 5. Once your potatoes are ready to harvest you can literally just dump out the bucket and clean off your potatoes. If you planted early in the season you may even be able to get another harvest in. I generally mix the soil in to my existing compost pile.

Now if you potatoes are a fall crop this could be the end of growing things for you. Since I had such success with minimal effort this year and my tomatoes grew so well in the basement windows I wasn’t quite ready to give up. Lack of sun in winter be damned!

And then reality set and I realized I was going to need some lights. I needed a solution that was energy efficient, affordable and easy to use. So welcome the Click and Grow! You get three slots to grow in, it its self watering and has a height adjustable light.

The starter kits comes with three basil pods, if I had to do it all over again I’d order something else as well. I loved the basil but was desperate to see how some of their other pods would work, they have strawberries, cherry tomatoes, flowers, all kinds of herbs and more. Below is my click & grow on March 22nd, it was ordered around January 8th and set up a week later. I think the basil is doing quite well. *Pro-tip: Prune your plants to get them low and thick vs. tall and skinny it will let them thrive longer before you run out of height on the adjustable light.