Compost and potato bag questions

[homebrewgirl]

Hello all - it's snowy and cold here in Michigan, and so of course I'm spending all my time daydreaming about what I want my garden to look like in, oh... 6 months (ugh, that's a long time). I was looking through various catalogs, and would really like to try planting some potatoes this summer, but have a very limited amount of gardening space

Comments

[ladyinfidel]

I'm in michigan too and I put compost in one of my 3 bins all year (the big open wood one). it will break down just very slowly. think about how many bizarre days that we get here that are over 40 and over 50, in the winter! I'd add compost to my two compost rolling balls too but they are currently frozen solid.

[homebrewgirl]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to one of those days... any day now...

[kat_food]

I add compost to my bin over the winter, too. And if I don't feel like trudging through the snow to get to it, then I dump the veggie matter on the snow for the rabbits. It's not attractive but I figure it'll all melt away eventually and no one's going to visit our backyard anytime soon.

[homebrewgirl]

Unfortunately we're on a corner lot, so we don't really have a back yard. That does about fit my level of effort some days, though.

[wowomom]

I grew up in Minnesota and my parents always stuff on the compost pile even in the winter, sometimes just dumped it right on top of the snow. :) They'd just turn it all in when everything turned to mush in the spring.

Here's a site that's got pretty good information about winter composting.
http://www.howtodothings.com/home-garden/how-to-compost-in-winter

[homebrewgirl]

Thanks for the link, that was interesting. I'm definitely going to be turning a good pile of stuff in come spring.

[angelchrome]

I grew potatoes in a contractors bag last year with moderate success. I think I started them a bit too late in the spring for great results and may retry next year. They're cheaper than the bags from gardeners.com, which means I didn't have that much money in the experiments, which was good.

[homebrewgirl]

I thought about trying some other sort of bag, but we do occasionally get enough rain to thoroughly flood something that didn't drain well. Did you just not get a good yield, or small potatoes? I was thinking about planting some fingerlings, so it wouldn't bother me so much if they were itty-bitty, but I'd be sad if I got a low yield.

[angelchrome]

I just put a jillion holes in the bottom of the bag and it drained just fine. When it was time to "hill up" I just unrolled the bag a little so it would be taller and put straw on the potatoes. The yield was just low, no problems with the actual potatoes really.

http://myfolia.com/gardens/7940-potato-bags-garden
(has a little photo)

[oxymoron02]

A great compost pile can maintain it's own heat, even in the winter. I've heard about steaming, thermophilic piles going in Alaska straight threw the dead of winter. Now, I'm sure getting enough in there to get good and thermophilic isn't likely to happen for you, as it's hard enough for most people who don't live in the arctic, but it's possible.

Every little bit helps when it comes to compost. Try reminding your husband of the cost of buying amendments that aren't as good as what will come out of that pile when it's done.

I've heard of people growing potatoes in all manner of container, including galvanized trash cans (lid off, of course), and tires. I have yet to try potatoes, but it's on my to-do list this year.

[homebrewgirl]

I'm really pretty certain that we don't have enough material in ours for it to keep going well once it got cold. I have taken the cost-savings approach to talking to my husband, though... that sold him on the composter in the first place (look honey, we can turn our garbage into that stuff that I wanted to spend a lot of money on last year!).