Growing potatoes is an easy way to grow something that you can eat.
You can grow them in grow bags.
You can use them to break up new ground if you are starting a vegetable plot.
A little care is needed with potatoes: any green parts on a potato tuber and the berries that sometimes form after flowering are POISONOUS.
Lots of plants have adaptations to survive unfavourable seasons, cold or drought. Potato plants produce shoots that turn downwards into the soil and swell at the end. These swellings are called tubers and they are what we eat. The plant produces 5-20 of these tubers. When conditions become unfavourable the stems and leaves die, leaving the tubers in the ground to grow into a new plant the next year.
You can save your own potatoes to grow next year, but there is an increased risk of disease. In UK, the “seed” potatoes that are sold are usually grown in Scotland as the risk of disease is less there. Potato plants in England in wet summers may get a fungal disease called potato blight.
If your vegetable plot isn’t ready, or the soil hasn’t warmed up, you can “chit” potatoes to start them into growth before you plant them out. To chit potatoes, you arrange them with the bud end upwards traditionally in an old egg box, and they soon grow new shoots. Once the soil has warmed up you can plant the chitted potatoes into the soil.
You don’t need to chit potatoes, but they are a bit frost sensitive, and it may not be wise to plant them outside until April. If you are growing them in a growbag, it can be moved to a sheltered place if frost threatens.
Earthing up potatoes. As the potato plant grows, it puts out shoots that push underground and swell to form tubers. Once the first few leaves have formed. It is customary to “earth” them up, ie cover the bottom half of the plant with soil or compost. This encourages more tubers to be formed. If you are using a grow bag, you fill it half to two thirds full of compost, bury the tubers, then about 4-6 weeks later when the plant has started growing over the top of the bag you fill up the top half or third of the bag with compost.
Harvesting potatoes. Generally one waits until the plant starts to go yellow and dies back before digging the plant up and collecting the potatoes underneath. It usually flowers first, but be aware and don’t touch any tomato like fruits that might form as they are poisonous.
There are many different varieties of potatoes. In a Garden Centre you may find seed potatoes marked first early, second early or main crop. Early potatoes like Charlotte have a shorter growing time than a main crop variety, and are good for grow bags.
