Four years running, Big Papa and I have grown potatoes in a plastic garbage can. This year, our crop of rose fingerlings produced 62 fine looking potatoes. I get so jazzed when we are about to dump the can, because you never know how many potatoes you’ll get. The whole tuber process seems magical: seed potatoes go in the can, soil goes on top, a green plant grows, flowers and dies. And then, in the depth of the deep, dark dirt…POTATOES!

In my 2010 post, I wrote about how I looked forward to [one day] sharing future potato harvests with our kiddo. Well, guess what? Baby Bird got her hands dirty and helped. She’s already a potato fan, where eating them is concerned. I’m willing to bet she’ll enjoy being involved in potato harvests for years to come!

Here are some shots from this year’s potato festivities:

Potatoes growing in a plastic garbage can. Kinda pretty, huh? The flowers are cool too.

Dumping the potatoes onto a tarp. See how much the stalks died back. Not so pretty anymore.

Here’s our potato crop. Look at them! Earthy jewels.

2012 Rose Fingerling potatoes. 62 in this year’s crop…a few biggins’ too.

Baby Bird’s first home grown potatoes!

Because the potato plant is a member of the nightshade family, it’s not a good idea to reuse the soil to plant potatoes, tomatoes, peppers or eggplant because the soil may harbor insects or disease from this season’s crop (remember the Irish potato famine). We dump ours in the recycle bin but I’ve heard you can reuse the soil in flower gardens.

Roasted and ready!

Wanna grow your own? Here’s a link to my how-to post: One potato, two potatoes, three potatoes, four

And if you want to find more food to toot about, check out Wanderfood Wednesday!