A chitted seed potato in a potato bag, ready for covering up.
We don’t grow potatoes in the plot: we use bags instead. You can use tyres (tires to Americans) just as well, but bags, to my mind, are neater and easier to get hold of.
So, as the end of March is fast approaching and we’re so enjoying the end of last year’s crop right now, we set out this weekend to plant this year’s tubers, after they’ve spent a few weeks chitting in the outhouse.
Our Charlottes aren’t yet ready to go in, but the Rooster and Kestrel seed potatoes had good shoots of a couple of centimetres each, so I laid down a bed of two inches of compost in the bottom of four bags and split our ten tubers between them. I didn’t want to mix them, of course, so there are two bags of each variety, with two or three potatoes in each one. As soon as the Charlotte potatoes are chitted there will be another two bags beside these.
I covered them up, gave them a good watering, and will keep an eye on them for the first signs of life.
Growing potatoes in bags is so easy because they remain contained. When you grow them in your plot you have little control over where they can send their roots, and the constant need to earth up the new growth can be tricky if your allotted space is in the middle of your other crops.
By growing them in bags you can tip in new compost through the opening, and situate them away from your other vegetables if you’re worried about blight and its potential to spread.
When growing potatoes it is essential to make sure that none of the tubers is exposed to the light as this can turn them poisonous and inedible, and so every time new leaves poke up through the top of the soil you bury them a little further, encouraging the plants to put out new roots on the ends of which you’ll get more potatoes.
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I am growing potatoes in bags and they are looking good , they have plenty of green shoots and I have supported them with canes in the corners, however I do not know at which stage I am able to harvest the potatoes, some giudence would be appreciated.
Wait until your potatoes have flowered and the flowers have died down. Keep them well-watered and earth them up regularly to encourage more potatoes to form. You may also see potato apples form above ground on the end of your branches. These are a good sign that things are happening underground and your plants are healthy but don’t eat them, and wash your hands if you touch them, as they are poisonous.