Potatoes in Buckets

It all started with the empty buckets piled on top of one another in front of the Chinese take-out  restaurant waiting for garbage pick-up. I thought they would make  good  potato-farm buckets, so I went in and asked the Chinese lady if I could  take them. She gave me a lot of nods and a big smile.

"By the way, " I asked,"what were inside those buckets?"
"TOFU!" she promptly answered.

I rinsed the  buckets  of tofu residue and  commissioned Steve to drill holes on them. 

Then I  grabbed the potatoes that sprouted in my kitchen and sliced them in pieces.

I employed my little one to do the planting . This is a great  lesson on micro-farming, and taking responsibility (of watering them),as well, as it will be fun to harvest (digging and searching for them) and of course, the best part, preparing/making them to delicious dishes and eating them.

This is the waiting time. 

Check on them every now and then.  Water, then add soil as they grow.

Some say, it's time to  harvest when the plant has bloomed. Others say, it's when the potato plants have wilted. 

Did you know potato flowers once adorned Marie Antoinette's hair?

The plant has bloomed, but not wilted yet.
However, weather forecast indicates frost coming, so we decided to  declare harvest time.

Beautiful, not golden. but fuschia  nuggets.

My little farmer looking the part. (This is the second time he comes home with ripped pants. What kind of game do they play at recess that he should rip his pants like this?)

After pulling the potato plant out, make sure you go back to the bucket and dig out, because there will be more left in there.



What fun! What satisfaction  to reap what good yo've planted.

What's next?

Potato Gratin

Potato Salad

Baked Potato Wedges...

 

 

Will you try this next summer?  Do.
                                                  ---florisse