Growing Potatoes
|
Why Home Grown?
- Home grown 'earlies' are especially tasty
- You choose your favourite variety... grow it by organic methods - they taste even better - my 2nd early Charlotte >
- Potatoes can be grown in:
- space-saving patio tubs - they isolate potatoes from pests & disease
- convenient raised beds, or
-
well-managed under polythene rows...
in addition to: - traditional earthed-up rows,
- Available from your garden over a long period - they can also be stored
- Potatoes provide effective weed control - they're especially useful to break in new ground
Potato containers, hessayon crop bags, and a wide selection of
potato tuber varieties available on this link (the starter kit was good)
These American certified
potato eyes offer the best value by far!!
For the
economy garden, the seed packets available here
are good for growing potatoes in containers (link also has information on companion herbs for your potatoes).
About Growing Potatoes
The potato plant: grows from an underground stem that swells to form a stem tuber (the potato). Unlike any root, the potato has buds (or eyes) that sprout into new leafy stems. The plant stems grow out more potato tubers.
The potato growing season: ‘Very earlies’ and ‘earlies’ – are ready after about 75 and 90 days respectively; maincrops take 135-160 days. However, you can plant anytime your soil is workable (not water saturated or ice-bound), but warm enough for weed shoots - and as long as plants can reach maturity before winter frosts.
So you could be growing potatoes in containers with 2 successive crops of 'earlies', or one 'early' followed by a maincrop or a late season crop to store. A maincrop in open ground can be planted at the same time as 'earlies'.
Organic gardeners love 'earlies' because they miss the frequently blight affected summer months, and because of their fine flavour.
Sprouting Potatoes - Chitting
|
The buds are usually concentrated at one end of the potato tuber - the "rose end".
The potatoes get a 'head start' if they are planted with strong healthy sprouts already growing. To chit the seed potatoes stand in a light place with gentle warmth. Don't use a dark airing cupboard. An egg box illustrated left is an ideal container for chitting seed potatoes. |
|
This picture shows weak blanched shoots from a seed potato left in the dark - see below.
Importantly the new shoots should grow out fat and green about 1 inch - longer shoots are easily broken. Expose any pale shoots to light for greening. |
|
Only use healthy looking actively growing potato tubers. There's nothing wrong with planting small seed potatoes.
Leave several buds on to grow a crop of many smaller potatoes; reduce seed potato to one growing bud to get fewer larger potatoes. A popular practise is to cut potato tubers into sections, each bearing one or more buds or (eyes). American suppliers often provide potato eyes and whole seed potatoes are considered a premium product. |
|
Cut potato pieces should be left a few days before planting for the cut to heal with callus tissue. They are more likely to rot than whole seed potatoes.
Never plant diseased seed potato. The sunken areas on the tuber (left) are diseased. Destroy it. Obtain seed potato from certified stock. Re-using home grown potatoes for seed is risky. Potatoes sold as vegetables are not certified disease free and are often treated with sprouting inhibitors. |
Growing Potatoes by Different Methods
TRADITIONAL FURROW AND RIDGE – used in allotments and larger kitchen gardens.
Draw out a shallow trench piling the soil into ridges on each side. Cultivate bottom with plenty of organic matter, plant tubers 6 inches deep. As stems grow draw soil back around them. Add layers of lawn cuttings or compost or leaf mold and finally ridge up (or hill) around plants. If you plant into a furrow bottom there may be no need to hill up after drawing soil level. But I don't like doing this in cold weather.
With maincrop or late varieties there’s enough space and time to intercrop with Sweet Corn, French Beans etc…
Begin by scything any weeds to the ground. Then plant potato tubers and lay the sheet over the top. Cut cross slits where the shoots are pushing up. With no dig areas lay a ridge of garden compost or leaf mold under the sheet. This technique could well follow a green manure (e.g. mustard) dug in the previous autumn or following over-wintering beans etc...·
You can lift the sheet to harvest small quantities of potatoes as and when you need them. A barrier also reduces risk of blight spores infecting tubers, although I recommend direct removal of any affected leaves.
GROWING POTATOES IN NO-DIG RAISED BEDS – clip together raised bed containers have become popular. These can be filled with compost for growing potatoes. Try covering the surface with polythene to help preserve moisture.
The sides are 10 inches high and stacking one above another is worth considering.
|
| Below - the harvest from one potato container |
|
Another plus – containers in a warm and light situation produce earlier potatoes. You may even have time to re-plant with a late crop – this is the ideal way to use them.
Containers like those pictured need to go in a wind sheltered spot and stake and string supports need to be made.
GROWING POTATOES ON THE COMPOST HEAP – if your compost heap has cooled down and fully matured then you could plant seed potatoes straight into it.
Note - fully matured means not populated by woodlice and slugs which may eat the potatoes (worms no problem). A compost trench might be used given the same proviso. The slightly acid conditions favour potatoes.
TIPS:-
(1) Grow 'earlies' in containers sited in a warm spot or initially covered (Greenhouse or Envirofleece) to keep warm. Note: large containers are too heavy to move out later when filled. Preceding greenhouse tomato hygiene essential.
(2) Re-plant the containers with a late crop to harvest at Christmas.
(3) If you want more potatoes grow a main crop in the soil by furrow and ridge.
Find out about harvesting potatoes here.
More information on growing potatoes will be added to this page soon on preparing the site, feeding the potatoes, disease etc...
BOTTOM OF THE GARDEN - more information and links
