Potatoes Harvested from a Straw Bale
Grown in a straw bale, these spuds (potatoes) were VERY easy to grow. I had a leftover straw bale from my neighbor’s Halloween decorations. I poured some human urine into the bale over the winter and let it compost. In spring, I stuck a piece of a potato in the straw bale, occasionally watered it, and the spuds grew. Harvesting was VERY very easy, with my bare hands just plucking the spuds out of the straw bale. No need to dig. This was great for a sunny spot on concrete. If I had put the straw bale over soil it probably would have been even better since then the roots could have spread beyond the bale.
24 Responses to Potatoes Harvested from a Straw Bale
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Hehe…I “get: it….
lynn0511
August 6, 2012 at 9:43 pm
These are all genetically identical clones.
The green ones cannot be eaten, but there is no reason not to use them as your seed potatoes.
opcn18
August 6, 2012 at 9:46 pm
Don’t piss on my potatoes, and tell me it’s water!
thatbastardson
August 6, 2012 at 10:13 pm
Thanks for sharing this. Sending love your way.
electricfemale
August 6, 2012 at 10:17 pm
I’m coming over for hash browns.
Antiks72
August 6, 2012 at 10:20 pm
Yes, green skin on spuds usually means that they have been exposed to sunlight, causing a toxin to form that can indeed make you sick. Best to avoid green spuds!
OrganicGarden123
August 6, 2012 at 10:25 pm
The ones near the surface look green. They are toxic. Do not eat those.
alan30189
August 6, 2012 at 10:46 pm
I did toss maybe one shovel of dirt or compost on top of the bale in the autumn, and then through the winter I would pour on top a gallon of urine maybe once a week, which would trickle down through the bale (rain too), no doubt trickling down some dirt/soil also. Happy gardening!
OrganicGarden123
August 6, 2012 at 11:27 pm
About the bale…
As far as prep goes, did you only add the urine and let the bale sit over the winter? Just urine? It looked black and soil-like. It looked very good, actually!
Thank you for sharing your experiment.
peaceniq
August 6, 2012 at 11:36 pm
oh man. keep those baby ones. they are good eating.
thatbastardson
August 7, 2012 at 12:25 am
Yes, I do think that I “over-planted” my straw bales. Planting spuds and watermelon in one bale was probably over-doing it! But it was my first year trying it and I was just experimenting so I’m happy with what I got. I think that in the future, you are correct that less plants per bale is probably better. Happy gardening!
OrganicGarden123
August 7, 2012 at 1:24 am
…don’t you think watermelon sharing the bale defeated the spuds?
paulpellicci
August 7, 2012 at 2:12 am
I think you got a great yield considering you did everything but shoot them to stop them growing.
You can tell by the way the leaves were reaching they didn’t get near the recommended sun.
To my mind, if you had used a tomato cage and fluffed out the straw as the leaves grew, you would have gotten much more.
That up there on the scale of “cool”. Certainly going to try it. Thanks.
McHenryAnge
August 7, 2012 at 2:33 am
Thanks for the tip!
OrganicGarden123
August 7, 2012 at 3:18 am
loosen the bales it lets the potatoes grow big, i hump up a row of straw in the garden for my potatoes (leaves work too) then cover with dirt, my red potatoes grow as big as a soft ball and taste great.
eron1979
August 7, 2012 at 3:28 am
thanks for the info. im definitely going to try this next yr……….using bales will free up another one of my raised beds. and at end of season i’ll have some wonderful compost from the bales. a win, win situation.
DeadEyeRabbit
August 7, 2012 at 4:15 am
Yeah, I agree that not many spuds came from that straw bale… but then again it was in an area that got limited sunlight and I didn’t regularly water it, so I’m guessing that a bale could yield much more. A handful of potato starts per bale would be reasonable to get things going. Peace.
OrganicGarden123
August 7, 2012 at 5:07 am
poor showing but i like the method. how many plants per bale do you think would be feasable? thanks for th video.
DeadEyeRabbit
August 7, 2012 at 5:26 am
Ha Ha Ya dun good 🙂 Im going to give that a try Just because I can .. Thanks for a great video and a great idea.. Spuds rule!
hgils
August 7, 2012 at 5:46 am
We grow potatoes in our rough compost bed and they do fairly well. I enjoy your videos. I would appreciate if you subcribed to me and we can keep in touch. Thank you.
TheNaturesFriends
August 7, 2012 at 6:31 am
I readily admit my ignorance of Austalian climate, etc., but in general I ‘start’ with straw bales in the fall/autumn, let them weather/compost their insides over the winter (dirt on top trickles in when rain, urine, etc., flow through), then plant into them in the spring at whatever time you would normally plant for your climate/region. Good for wheelchair users since you don’t need to get all the way down to ground level, the bales are up a bit. Happy gardening.
OrganicGarden123
August 7, 2012 at 7:19 am
this looks really cool. I’m in a wheelchair and look forward to giving this a shot. I live in Australia and its Spring now so when should I start the process for Straw Bale gardening???
68gnome
August 7, 2012 at 8:05 am
@ThanksgivingWalk: THANKS for your kind comments and your charming gratitude. These spuds were fun to grow and fun to share (and fun to eat!). Happy gardening!
OrganicGarden123
August 7, 2012 at 8:11 am
@SSanf: Thanks for the tip! Yeah, I certainly believe that these would have done better if I had used real “seed potatoes” instead of just some grocery store spuds that I hadn’t gotten around to cooking. Thanks again!
OrganicGarden123
August 7, 2012 at 8:37 am