Harbinger of Preliminary Garden Success

As per the instructions from my gardening friend, Ann, I (with my 3 year-old assistant) carefully covered the bottoms of two IKEA blue tote bags with garden dirt.

This of course, was following the 48-hour curing stage of potato eye sections (or they will rot, said other directions).

We placed potato chunks, eyes looking up, on top of the dirt and covered them with another 2 or so inches of soil. Water and wait.

And wait. And wait. When the eyes were blanketed beneath warm earth, the temps were wonderful. Perfect. Even hot.

And then came the cold and colder spell. It is after all, April. Hello. I should have waited.

But look! The beginning peeks of potential potato plant success! Leaves are climbing from the mud and cat prints in the midst of the totes.

The rest of the directions are to recover the shoots once the greens reach 4-6 inches in height. Continue doing that. Ok, I really have no idea how long that part will go on. Will I reach the top of the IKEA bag and just have to stop? Or do the plants only get so high, bloom, and then give me some new potatoes?

(Shrugs shoulders). Don't know. When the blooms fall off, the potatoes are done.

Thinking this garden experiment is going to be very interesting.

The theory, of course, is that it's easier to find the potatoes when they are contained in a certain amount of dirt. Instead of an entire garden.

We shall see.

But for now? Perfection.