I don't have optimal soil or sun conditions, and a really full garden, so my space for a veggie bed is limited. A few years ago, I started growing vegetables in containers, sneaking them into sunny spots between perennials and shrubs, here and there throughout the garden. I've discovered many vegetables grow well in containers--tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, eggplant, carrots, beets, turnips, squash, and even potatoes. Actually, especially potatoes! Here's how to do it.

First you need potatoes, ideally small ones which are better suited to the confined space of a container.  I select smaller varieties and grow them to maturity (harvesting about a week after the foliage has died back). Another option is to grow full-size potatoes but harvest them early as baby potatoes before they reach full size (about a week or two after flowers form).

Last year I grew 'Bintje' (above). This year I'm growing 'German Butterball,' 'Purple Peruvian,' and 'Red Norland,' all purchased as seed potatoes (the first three from Landreth, the latter from locally-owned Downtown Home and Garden).

Seed potatoes are not actual seeds; they're mature potatoes that we cut up and plant. If you get your seed potatoes a month or so before planting, store them in a cool, dry, dark place at about 50 degrees. (If you're storing potatoes throughout the winter, requirements are different. I'll write about that in fall.)

Some people purposefully wait for their seed potatoes to sprout before planting them. This is called chitting and is achieved by storing the potatoes in a dry place at room temperature a week or two before planting. Chitting shortens the amount of time it takes the potatoes to sprout and mature. Some of my potatoes chitted accidentally because my storage area wasn't cool enough. I found it a bit difficult to handle and cut the potatoes without breaking off some of the sprouts.

Whether or not your eyes have sprouted, cut the seed potatoes into pieces so there are three eyes (or buds) per piece. Note: Dark potatoes like this 'Purple Peruvian' will stain your fingers, but it washes off easily.

You can use any large container, provided you drill drainage holes into the bottom. I use plastic storage bins because they're lightweight and inexpensive. They're on sale now for back to school and will be again after the holidays. I got the one shown here at a big box for $4 after Christmas.

My bin is 18" deep, 18" wide, and 25" long, and I wouldn't go any smaller than that, especially not in depth. I drilled holes (7/32" bit) along the bottom edges and in parallel rows, lengthwise. You do not need the lid. I move mine around the garden as a weed suppressant.:)

For filler, I like a 70/30 combo of compost and a good soil mix. The City of Ann Arbor gives out free compost in spring, so I load up there. You can adjust the ratio for your own needs. Potatoes don't need rich soil, but I think they grow much better in a container with it.

Fill your container about a third with your soil/compost mix. Plant each potato piece so it's sitting about an inch from the bottom of the tub and is covered in the rest of the soil. Plant so a cut edge is facing down and the eyes are facing up. I want to tell you I planted the pieces 6 inches apart, but it was likely more like 3 inches. I varied the planting depth a little, to create more space.

Potatoes like full sun, so if you have it, great! If you don't, don't worry. Potatoes are forgiving. Once my trees leaf out, my bin only gets four to six hours of a sun a day and the potatoes did fine.

Here is the bin with the potato pieces planted. This year, I also planted in a potato sack, which my mother wasn't using. The instructions are the same, except you don't need to drill holes because the material is porous, and not as many potatoes fit into it. Otherwise, results were the same.

In-ground potatoes can be planted when soil temperatures reach 45F. I plant mine in the bins at the end of April here is southeastern Michigan, where the last frost date is mid-May.

I water my potatoes once a day, like I would any container. Don't worry if your potatoes don't grow evenly at first. The shorter foliage will catch up in a few weeks.

The heights have evened out now at about 8 inches tall. At this stage, you want to add more soil into the bin, which is the same concept as mounding soil around a plant growing in the ground. Add about 2 inches of soil mix, being careful not to break the stalks.

As the potato stalks grow, keep adding more soil into the bin in stages. This is not an exact science; I add 2 inches each time the foliage gets to be about 8 inches over the soil line. When you've added enough soil to be about 2 inches from the top of the bin, stop filling it. You need at least that amount of clearance so that water has a place to collect without overflowing in heavy rainfalls.

Eventually the potatoes flower (these are 'Peruvian Purple'), bees pollinate, and the potatoes grow.

After about three months, you'll notice that much foliage is still growing, but some has died back. Potatoes are ready to harvest a week or two after the foliage is dried out!

Carefully dig in the areas where foliage has died, leaving the remaining stalks intact. There's nothing I like more than sticking my arm elbow deep in warm earthy compost and rooting around for potatoes. And it's so much easier than digging.

Ta da! My first potato of 2011, a 'Red Norland,' harvested on July 27. They are so good eaten right after harvesting--I ate this one raw, like an apple.

I'm going to do a second planting in the next few days, as soon as I harvest everything currently in the bin. I'm not sure if there's enough time for a second harvest, but I'm going to see what happens. Three months from now will be Halloween. Since potatoes can handle some cold, I'm hoping they will finish by then. I'll let you know.

Another advantage to growing in a bin is you don't have to worry about crop rotation. I dump the compost/soil mix onto my veggie bed at the end of the season, wash the container with a solution of 9 parts water to 1 part bleach, and fill it with fresh soil next year. I can use the same container over and over again, and I save some potatoes to start next year, too.

I'm teaching a class on composting at WCC next week. It's always a lot of fun. Chocolate and a breakout session are involved.

I wonder, if you had only one tip, piece of advice, lesson learned, or other wisdom to share with people new to composting, what would it be?

This is the third year I'm teaching this course and my syllabus is all set... but I'm always eager to learn from others and am happy to share anything new I may learn from you, oh so knowledgeable blogging friends!

OK, I'm just going to say it. I curbside shop. These days, primarily for leaves, but over the years I've also gotten other wonderful, useful things that others had discarded as trash. I love leaves, both shredded in my compost bin and whole as mulch on my many garden beds. I don't get enough leaves in my own yard, so I supplement my leaves each fall with those others have set at the curb.

Curbside Shopping for Leaves
The other day I came across the hugest collection of leaf bags I have ever seen in my life. We're talking 20-quadrillion-41, or at least eleventy-nine. (Trust me, I'm a master gardener!) We're talking mother lode. The kind of plenty that makes you want to drop to your knees in thankfulness or take a long running jump into the crunchy goodness!

Unfortunately, I could do neither as I was on my way home with ingredients to make hummus for the master gardener potluck that evening, but I decided to return to this leaf mecca later and to show you the curbside shopping process. Promptly after the potluck, at 9:30 p.m., I phoned my friend Pete to ask him to meet me and take photos. (What I really like about Pete is that he knows (and humors) me so well that his only question dealt with logistics, not the whys or wherefores of what I was wanting to do!)

It's important to get the right kind of leaves at the curb. Oak leaves break down slowest and are best for mulch; maple leaves break down quickest and are best compost — but that's not exactly what I mean. I mean that I only want to come back with leaves, not with brambly twigs, spent garden foliage, a leaf/grass clipping mix (though ideal for compost, I have plenty of my own grass clippings, and these bags are heavier to lift), or any other creative combination.

Often it's obvious if twigs are in the bag because they have a way of poking out the top or through the sides. I won't even stop if I see that. When I do stop, here's what I do (I usually wear gloves for all steps but got distracted being a model, too!):

I quickly look into the bag and exclude bags that obviously contain yard waste other than leaves. However, I've found that even if a bag only has leaves visible at the top, other stuff you don't want may still be hiding underneath.

To quickly gauge what else may be in the bag, I give it a quick frisk (patting both sides). If there are twigs, you will feel the edges of the bag being pokey. If there are other kinds of yard waste, they feel denser and more solid than dried leaves. This may sound ambiguous, but you'll know it when you frisk it, trust me!

Next, I give the bag a quick lift a few inches off the ground to gauge its weight. If it's really heavy, it probably also contains plant clippings, which I don't want (dried leaves are fairly light). Plus, I need to be able to comfortably lift the bag into my car or trunk.

I also avoid bags that are filled to the brim and those only half filled. The first will spill leaves into my car and the second aren't worth my time.

Bags should be easy to handle and load. I can't stress this enough.

I set bags upright into Sandy (my Ford Focus). Three bags fit on the back seat, one on the front passenger seat...

... and several in the trunk (more if I'd cleaned it out first!).

I use some of the leaves as mulch...

...and shred others (using lawnmower or weed whacker inserted into can of leaves) as browns for my compost bin. I fill it to the top in fall and by spring (when I have greens) it's sunken down halfway. I also save leaves in my shed to use during the summer.

I reuse the bags for my own yard waste (remember all those buckthorn branches?!) or as weed blockers or in lasagna layering.

It's a win-win-win-win.

What Is Trash?
Over the years, I've gotten some wonderful things at the curb: my beloved Weber grill, high-end ceramic pots, living plants in good health, sturdy shelving I use in my shed and basement, a glass windowpane I use to adorn my shed, and window screens that I use on top of my rain barrels and in winter on the ground to make it easy to pick up leftover seed hulls from the feeders. I've been with others who have found a bent-cane rocking chair, an antique wingback chair, a solid wood side table, other types of furniture, and designer shoes and clothes (most barely worn, and some new).

I was raised with a strong sense of "waste not, want not." I'm a long-time garage saler, recycler, and reuser, so the mental leap to "trash picking" (curbside shopping is a way better term!) was natural to me. And it really got me thinking about what "trash" even is. Sure, a lot of it really is trash (unusable, dirty, or broken things; wrappers and packaging; and just plain icky, yucky stuff). But in our affluent society, people get often tired of things well before their useful life is worn out. The only thing that turns these items from valued personal belongings into trash is the opinion of the owner, not the value or condition of the object.

I'd often stopped to look when something caught my eye at the curb, but I didn't start going out specifically to see what might be waiting until about eight years ago, right after my divorce. I actively curbside shopped Ann Arbor for maybe two years. Since then, the city changed its trash collection policy so all items must be contained in city-supplied carts; nothing can be left just sitting at the curb and nothing can be in owner-supplied bins.

There is a wide spectrum of people who curbside shop, all with differing motivations, goals, techniques, and comfort levels. Personally, I never opened bags of trash or even lifted lids of bins; I only took items that were sitting out in the open. For me, the change in city trash rules ended curbside shopping.

Also, with the emergence and popularity of online sites like freecycle and craigslist, it's been a lot easier for people to sell or give away their usable items, as opposed to throwing them out. I use both sites frequently, and am also an avid thrift store shopper. I love vintage and retro items, things with a history.

Other people also dumpster dive (crawling into dumpsters at retail establishments), which I lack the physical prowess and, okay, the cahonas, to try.

If you've curbside shopped or dumpster dived (dove?), please let me know!

There's a few things I keep meaning to show or tell you, but I keep getting distracted. Hence (ta da!) Mish-Mash Monday (A Collection of Random Thoughts). Feel free to participate, too!

First off, a few random photos! My round-lobed Hepatica bloomed a little while ago!!!!! I had looked and looked for it, and looked again, and nothing. Then, BOOM!, all of a sudden there it was. Noogie, isn't it darling? The sharp-leaf Hepatica is now up, too, but no flowers yet.

Also out of nowhere, my snake's head fritillary popped up! (Double noogie!)

The Pulmonaria have really opened up a lot, but they'll look even more blue and moundy in mid May!

I keep a bucket in my bathtub to catch the water as it warms up (I then use it in the garden or, in the winter, put it in my washing machine). Both James and Fiona love drinking from it. Fiona is smaller and very light on her feet, so she can sit on the edge of the bucket without knocking it over, even when very little water is in it. I noticed her doing this the other day, with her head way down near the bottom of the bucket getting a drink. Of course I found this pose so cute I got the camera. Of course, being a cat, Fiona did not cooperate and lifted her head up. But check out her tongue! HA! A cute shot after all. Fiona, incidentally, is not a big purrer, but she does purr when she drinks!

Next, I was so tickled that my students took to a little game I made for them in a recent composting class I taught at Washtenaw Community College. The idea came to me last year, seemingly out of the blue. Two hours is a long time to sit and listen to someone talk, so I try to break up the class somehow. I always welcome comments as I go (it's more interactive), and I try to have lots of things to pass around. Even if it isn't a hand's on class, I think looking at something (feeling/smelling compost) helps connect people to the idea and increases the chances of them doing it later at home. I cover a bit of the science of soils/compost and then get practical. But of course the biggest question is what to compost. I explain about browns and greens and give examples. Then I break them into small groups and give each group three envelopes marked browns, greens, and not compostable, plus about 30 pieces of paper with items written on them (such as grass clippings, shredded leaves, wood ash, chocolate, polyester pants, and 33%) that they have to, as a group, put in the correct envelope.

I didn't know how adults would react to this, but they seem to love it! They speak to one another and bring up good points and questions for discussion. You can see they are so engrossed in the task that they didn't even notice the pesky instructor taking photos for her blog, even if said pesky instructor announced that she was doing so!

Speaking of compost, I read somewhere that spent grains and liquids left over from beer making are great for compost. Well, I emailed the local brewing club and I got some good stuff. One gentleman, Bob, brought me a large ziplock baggie of trub (that's the nice smelling, gooey sediment left over after fermenting). It contains yeast, which kick-starts the composting process. I was so excited to add it to my bin that I forgot to take a photo!

Mike of the Ypsilanti Brewing Company gave me several other leftover plant materials (greens) for my bin:

...20 gallons of used malted barley (still warm, mmmmm)

...three bags of hops that had gone too moldy for brewing

...a bit of leftover liquid from barley distilling mixed in with one bucket of barley, and...

...a hops starter plant! Ooh, look at its rhizomes. I have no idea where I'm going to plant it (full sun with room/support to grow to 12 feet or higher), but I'm going to plant it!

Here is the lovely barley on top of my compost bin (which at this time of year has mostly chopped leaves from last fall) before I mixed it in.

On Friday, I volunteered at the annual Washtenaw County Conservation District Tree Sale. All kinds of trees are laid out in a long pole barn and when people come to pick up their orders, volunteers fill them. This involves a bit of walking and an awful lot of bending over, which isn't really a big deal, but getting up again is! Thanks to Linda who took this photo (Genevieve, note my purple gloves!). [ Update: I just learned that 50,000 trees and shrubs were sold in 439 orders--and I'm sure I filled at least 20 of those orders! :) ]

And finally, some winter-sown babies are up! Quite a few actually, in alphabetical order: bean, borage, catchfly, Centaurea (two kinds, one from Frances), chives, Clarkia, cosmos (from Tina), green pepper, hollyhock (pink from Tina and yellow from Beckie & Rose), hummingbird vine (from Adrienne), hyacinth bean (from Randy), Joseph's coat, lupine, Mexican hat coneflower (from Randy), Mexican sunflower (from Adrienne), nasturtium, pasque flower, snapdragon, tomatoes (Gajo de Melon, Ukrainian Heart, Ladino di Panocchio, Red Russian, and Canestrino di Lucca), and zinnia.

Yep, I did say tomatoes. Aren't they cute?!

The yellow hollyhock (which may be Russian hollyhock, Alcea rugosa) has its first true leaf!

And look at the sweet true leaves of lupine, and how crazy full the catchfly is (tiny seeds; I have to thin out). And the Mexican hat in the foreground is so sweet, too!

In winter sowing, you don't use artificial lighting or temperature to coax seeds along; they come up on their own natural schedule, which means like plants sprout at like times (within normal individual variation!), regardless of when they were sown. For example, I saw the tiniest seed leaves on April 2 for both Clarkia amoena (godetia), sown on January 3, and Clarkia speciosa 'Pink Buttercups', sown on March 17.

Likewise, I saw the first seedlings for two kinds of Centaurea cyanus on that same day: "dark burgundy" from GardenBabe sown on January 3 and 'Black ball' from Frances sown on March 17. Check out 'Black ball' yesterday — its roots are really developed and it's more than ready to be transplanted. It's by far my biggest seedling.

I have four trays and one milk jug with seedlings, which have remained uncovered overnight for the last few days, and five trays and one jug that remained covered at all times since no seedlings have sprouted in them yet. I'll post more progress as time goes on.

For now, thanks for stopping by and I wish you a happy Mish-Mash Monday!