Here are the basics for Growing Your Own Potatoes

This is a great little project for all the family!  And a great way for kids to learn about growing food…plus they can get super dirty in the process!

Growing in the ground

• Prepare the soil by digging in plenty of well-rotted animal manure or compost (don’t use fresh manure as it will ‘burn’ plants). Plant the potatoes about 30 – 40cm wide and 10 – 20cm deep. 
• Then add a bit more compost/manure to the bottom of the trench and cover with some soil. Put seed potatoes 20 – 30cm apart in the trench, shoot-side up. Fill in the trench to cover the potatoes.
• As potato shoots start to appear, cover them up with soil from either side of the trench. ‘Hill up the crop’ this way a few times in the first four or five weeks of growth, which gives the potatoes a nice loose mound of soil in which to grow. Now leave the shoots to develop on to form leaves.
• Keep your potatoes well-watered. The soil should be damp enough to stick to your fingers.
• If you don’t have a ton of space then no-dig and container growing both work well for home garden growing. Using container growing you can produce potatoes in any handy space, even on balconies.

No-dig

• Make a no-dig bed of potatoes by layering newspapers (or flattened cardboard boxes) at least six layers thick on an area to be planted. Spread your seed potatoes on top of the newspapers about 30cm apart, trying to get the shoots pointing upwards.
• Cover the potatoes with layers of compost, weed-free straw, rotted animal manure, and other mulch materials, until the potatoes are covered by about 20 – 30cm. Don’t flatten the cover down.
• Water well. As the potatoes start to grow through, add more layers of mulch material and keep watered. After about four weeks of growing through and covering up, let the potatoes grow on without covering. As the mulch breaks down keep adding more mulch to keep the tubers covered.

Container growing

• Get a container at least 40 – 50 cm deep with holes in the bottom for drainage. Shrub-sized flower pots work well. An old wheelbarrow will work if holes are drilled in the bottom. You can also make a ‘container’ using loose bricks or chicken wire.
• Put about 10 – 20cm of mixed compost and potting mix in the bottom of the container and put your seed potatoes on top, about 30cm apart. Cover with about 10 – 20cm of compost mixed with mulch (straw, grass clippings. Water well.
• As the potato shoots start to grow through, cover up with more compost and mulch mix and keep watered. Keep on covering up for about four weeks (but stop if you reach the top of the container!)

For both no-dig and container growing, keep the mulch well watered – wet enough to stick to your fingers but not sopping. If the potatoes dry out they will probably go scabby.

When to harvest?

The longer potatoes grow, the bigger the tubers will be.  You can start harvesting a few tubers as soon as they are big enough to eat – dig around under the plants and retrieve a few, and cover up the rest to keep growing.

Potatoes exposed to light will go green, so keep them covered up with straw and soil as they grow. Green potatoes are poisonous!

Important Facts on Growing Your Own Potatoes

• Only use Seed Potatoes… as this is the only way to guaranteed they will be virus free
• Put the seed potatoes into a bright but out of sunlight spot for a few weeks to shoot. Make sure they’re kept reasonably dry and away from frost.
• While you’re waiting for the new shoots to appear and reach a few centimetres in length, you can spend time preparing the garden bed or container. 
• Don’t add lime! – potatoes prefer an acid soil.
• Plant sprouted seed potatoes (tubers) with care so you don’t damage the young shoots!
• Potatoes exposed to light turn green and develop a toxic substance.
• Don’t grow potatoes in the same place as other solanum crops as they share many diseases – for example, don’t grow potatoes to follow a tomato crop, or vice-versa.
• Potatoes accumulate cadmium and other heavy metals, so avoid fertilizers which contain these elements. Similarly, avoid using tyres as containers for growing potatoes as they can leach heavy metals.

Problems to watch out for…

• Snails and slugs can attack the young shoots. 
• Aphids are worth controlling because they can spread disease. 
• Fungal diseases can affect potatoes. The worst is the blight that caused the total failure of the potato crop in 19th century Ireland and the subsequent starvation or exodus of more than a million people. It begins with leaf spots and spreads to the stems and tubers. The disease is favoured by humid weather with cool nights and warm days.

Checklist…

• Seed Potatoes – In stock are Desirees, Dutch Creams & Kipflers
• Organic Manure
• Digging Tools
• Sugar Cane Mulch or Straw

For more information on Potato growing and pest control, speak to one of our friendly team members.

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*Information sourced from www.gardenate.com and www.yates.com.au