There’s nothing just like the style of a freshly harvested potato! It’s not like something you’ll get on the shops. And guess what? You don’t want an entire lot of gardening house to develop them. They do very properly in containers!
You will want:
Natural seed potatoes
Some 5 to 10-gallon buckets or containers
Good soil
Water
NOTES:
Should you can’t discover seed potatoes, purchase some natural ones on the grocery store and plant these as a substitute.
You possibly can plant 5 seed potatoes right into a 10-gallon bucket and about three right into a 7-gallon. Should you’ve solely received 5-gallon buckets, plan on utilizing solely two potatoes.
Anticipate a 5-gallon bucket to yield a few kilos of potatoes. So if you happen to’re feeding a household or simply love potatoes, do extra containers or larger ones.
Lastly, ensure you choose a clear, food-grade container or bucket that has by no means been used to retailer any nasty chemical compounds.
If there aren’t any drainage holes on the backside of the container, drill them your self.
Getting your potatoes going is a simple course of, nevertheless it takes a bit of little bit of time. Observe the steps beneath, and in just some months, you’ll be having fun with the tastiest mashed, roasted, or steamed sides you’ve ever had.
Step 1: Chit Your Tomatoes
Ensuring your potatoes have chits on them helps your crop develop sooner and results in an earlier harvest. This course of includes inserting the seed potatoes in a sunny windowsill for a couple of weeks till the chits (AKA shoots or eyes) are about ¾ of an inch lengthy.
Step 2: Reduce And Scab Your Potatoes
As soon as the chitting course of is over, you’ll doubtless want to chop your seed potatoes into smaller items for planting. The rule of thumb is the potato you plant must be no bigger than a golf ball.
Reduce the potato, so every bit has a few chits on it. The flesh shall be moist whenever you minimize into it; it is advisable scab it over so it’s dry for planting. To do that, place the potatoes in a cool, darkish place for a couple of days.
Step Three: Planting The Potatoes
Planting potatoes is a breeze. Begin by filling your bucket, container, or material pot with Four-6” of excellent soil. Water so it’s evenly moist.
Subsequent, place the variety of potatoes acceptable for the container dimension (5 in a 10-gallon, three in a 7-gallon, two in a 5-gallon) with their eyes up and about eight” aside.
Cowl the potatoes with a few inches of soil. Tubers uncovered to the daylight could have well being points and compromise the yield.
Sprinkle some bone meal excessive of the soil and mulch. Water completely, ensuring the tubers get an inch and a half of moisture weekly.
Inside a few weeks, you’ll discover the crops starting to develop. As soon as the stalks are about eight” excessive, backfill the buckets with extra soil and mulch, leaving simply the tops uncovered. Allow them to develop once more, and proceed to cowl with soil till the container is nearly full.
When the containers are full, proceed watering commonly. Fertilize sometimes with a product greater in phosphorus and potassium (5-10-10 is sweet).
Step Four: Harvesting Potatoes
Harvest time varies between the kind of potatoes planted. You’ll know the potatoes are prepared for choosing when the crops flower after which die again, often in about 2-Three months.
Completely happy harvesting!
Catherine Sherriffs
Catherine is a Canadian award-winning journalist who labored as a reporter and information anchor in Montreal’s radio and tv scene for 10 years. A graduate of Concordia College, she left the hustle and bustle of the enterprise after beginning a household. Now, she’s the editor and a author for Backyard Tradition Journal whereas additionally having fun with being a mother to her two younger children. Her pursuits embrace nice meals, gardening, health, animals, and something open air.
