[jackdied.com] Grow Your Own Taters

Grow Your Own Taters

[jackdied]

Apr 07 2009, 21:24 EDT [updated Apr 07 2009, 22:13 EDT]

As much as I enjoy the idea of gardening I don't actually have much experience with it beyond digging holes*. Spring is here so I scoured the internet to find gardening projects that would fit on my fire escape.

Did you mean not Potatoes?
The internet is a firehose of content if you want to grow some herbs on your windowsill or a few tomatoes on the stoop. I don't care about herbs or tomatoes so I had to scour a bit deeper. It turns out potatoes are just as easy to grow as either but opinions on growing them vary, kinda.

Potatoes for Everyone
The advice on growing potatoes is all the same but you have a wide choice in your why. Just on YouTube you can get the same advice from

a stereotypical survivalist (who also gives advice on muzzle loading rifles)
a TraderJoe's loving pop-greenie (GardenGirl quote "A 'victory garden' is a victory against global warming")
or a third-way annoying hipster (with ironic techno music bumper).

None of these are quite my bag so instead I favor receiving the exact-same advice from people who grow potatoes because .. they like to eat potatoes. That's the kind of ideology we can all rally around. The personalities in the "here is how you grow potatoes to eat" crowd is definitely skewed to the rural and particularly US south but even so you have a choice of deliveries:

Heavilly accented Scottish guy with a disposable-bag recepie (no politics).
heavilly accented Southern guy with a 10 gallon bucket recepie (no politics).
lightly accented Southern guy with a 5 gallon bucket recipe (no politics).
neutral accented housewife with a 10 gallon bucket recipie (no politics, but lots of camera time for her and not the taters)
random American guy on growing taters (no politics, but entirely too earnest).
BBC British accent guy on planting taters (no politics, very soothing. How soothing and how BBC? compare to the the BBC spaghetti hoax.).

I might throw some 10 gallon 'tater buckets on the deck. The price difference is negligible compared to supermarket potatoes (and only if you don't take labor into account) but I imagine the satisfaction is pretty high. In addition I know jack about farming compared to my own grandfather (who was a lawyer) so it would be educational. And as Heinlein said "specialization is for insects."

* Standard male child labor in my neighborhood was shoveling snow for cash in the Winter and digging holes for cash in the Spring. If you need advice on using any and every kind of shovel then I'm your guy.

jackdied.com RSS feed Men are not fit to rule men and saints don't run for office. Email us About Python Stuff
Grow Your Own Taters [jackdied] Apr 07 2009, 21:24 EDT [updated Apr 07 2009, 22:13 EDT] [permalink] As much as I enjoy the idea of gardening I don't actually have much experience with it beyond digging holes. Spring is here so I scoured the internet to find gardening projects that would fit on my fire escape. Did you mean not* Potatoes? The internet is a firehose of content if you want to grow some herbs on your windowsill or a few tomatoes on the stoop. I don't care about herbs or tomatoes so I had to scour a bit deeper. It turns out potatoes are just as easy to grow as either but opinions on growing them vary, kinda. Potatoes for Everyone** The advice on growing potatoes is all the same but you have a wide choice in your why. Just on YouTube you can get the same advice from a stereotypical survivalist (who also gives advice on muzzle loading rifles) a TraderJoe's loving pop-greenie (GardenGirl quote "A 'victory garden' is a victory against global warming") or a third-way annoying hipster (with ironic techno music bumper). None of these are quite my bag so instead I favor receiving the exact-same advice from people who grow potatoes because .. they like to eat potatoes. That's the kind of ideology we can all rally around. The personalities in the "here is how you grow potatoes to eat" crowd is definitely skewed to the rural and particularly US south but even so you have a choice of deliveries: Heavilly accented Scottish guy with a disposable-bag recepie (no politics). heavilly accented Southern guy with a 10 gallon bucket recepie (no politics). lightly accented Southern guy with a 5 gallon bucket recipe (no politics). neutral accented housewife with a 10 gallon bucket recipie (no politics, but lots of camera time for her and not the taters) random American guy on growing taters (no politics, but entirely too earnest). BBC British accent guy on planting taters (no politics, very soothing. How soothing and how BBC? compare to the the BBC spaghetti hoax.). I might throw some 10 gallon 'tater buckets on the deck. The price difference is negligible compared to supermarket potatoes (and only if you don't take labor into account) but I imagine the satisfaction is pretty high. In addition I know jack about farming compared to my own grandfather (who was a lawyer) so it would be educational. And as Heinlein said "specialization is for insects." * Standard male child labor in my neighborhood was shoveling snow for cash in the Winter and digging holes for cash in the Spring. If you need advice on using any and every kind of shovel then I'm your guy.	Current Quickies Archives All Posts Mar 2010 Feb 2010 Jan 2010 Dec 2009 Nov 2009 Oct 2009 Sep 2009 Aug 2009 Jul 2009 Jun 2009 May 2009 Apr 2009 Mar 2009 Feb 2009 Jan 2009 Dec 2008 Nov 2008 Oct 2008 Sep 2008 Aug 2008 Jul 2008 Jun 2008 May 2008 Apr 2008 Mar 2008 Feb 2008 Jan 2008 Dec 2007 Nov 2007 Oct 2007 Sep 2007 Aug 2007 Jul 2007 Jun 2007 May 2007 Apr 2007 Mar 2007 Feb 2007 Jan 2007 Dec 2006 Nov 2006 Oct 2006 Sep 2006 Aug 2006 Jul 2006 Jun 2006 May 2006 Apr 2006 Mar 2006 Feb 2006 Jan 2006 Dec 2005 Nov 2005 Oct 2005 Sep 2005 Aug 2005 Jul 2005 Jun 2005 May 2005 Apr 2005 Mar 2005 Feb 2005 Jan 2005 Dec 2004 Nov 2004 Oct 2004 Aggregators Instapundit Arts & Letters Daily Fark.com CNN FoxNews Content - Articles National Review Tech Central Station Content - Big Blogs National Review Volokh Conspiracy Content - Blogs Junk Yard Blog Mass Backwards Mass Right Thought Mesh Chicago Boyz
Font: Bigger Smaller Screen Width: Narrower Wider	0.09 seconds
jackdied.com 2003-2007