I started out with four normal potatoes from the supermarket. There are special seeding potatoes available from nurseries but I'd read that you can use normal ones too, so I decided to try that. (I felt like I was bucking the system a little bit!) I'd also read that some supermarkets use a sprout inhibitor spray on their potatoes to stop them from sprouting so they can be on shelves for longer. If that was the case, there was nothing I could do about it, but I got some unwashed potatoes as I thought they might be less likely to have been sprayed. Thankfully, it wasn't a problem.
I put the potatoes in an egg carton so they had plenty of air and didn't touch each other. It's best to put them in a place that does get sunlight or at least daylight, not in a dark place as I'd assumed before I started. I put them on my indoor plant trolley and waited. It took nearly a month before I saw any signs of change. When the potatoes sprout it's called chitting. As the sprouts grow bigger, the potato itself shrinks and goes wrinkly.
After about 2-3 months, the potatoes were ready to be planted out. (Apologies I can't remember the exact timelines as it was last year!) This would have been in early Spring, around September. I'm not sure if the sprouts are a good size or too big and I should have planted them earlier, to be honest.
I used a Tatey Bag that I bought from Digger's Club, but you can use a sturdy garbage bag, or a barrel or even an old tyre. The bag has drainage holes in the bottom. As per the instructions, I filled it halfway with compost, then folded down the edges of the bag for maximum sunlight.
I placed the potatoes on the compost and added a little more so they were just covered, with the sprouts poking out. It was a little difficult as the sprouts stuck out every which way and I couldn't decide which way was up!
The sprouts started to grow quite quickly and within a month or so I had some decent potato plants growing. The compost provided all the nutrients they needed, and I just needed to water them regularly. To get the maximum amount of potatoes, you're supposed to add more compost or straw regularly. This encourages the plants to grow taller and put down more roots and hence more potatoes. That's why the bag is folded over -- you can unfold it in stages as you add more straw.
The instructions say to keep repeating this process until the leaves start to turn yellow. Then it's time to dig up the potatoes. However, one day in late Summer (around February) I went outside and the plants were all brown! I wasn't sure if the plants were supposed to do that or if they'd just died. It was hard to keep them watered and safe from the sun as the summers here are very hot. To be safe, I decided to harvest them straight away. I started digging down but it was easier (and more fun!) to just tip out the bag and go through it to find the potatoes.
As you can see I got a small potato haul! By volume it's probably about the same as what I started with. All it cost me was half a bag of compost and a small amount of straw. The potatoes were very fresh and tender. I ate them boiled until just done and they had a different taste from storebought potatoes -- a fresher taste, though that's hard to describe for potatoes! I was also pleased that they were all different sizes. Supermarket potatoes tend to be all the same size, or there are normal size and mini size. It was strangely satisfying to have ones of many different sizes all together, especially the tiny fingernail-sized one!
I would definitely like to try growing potatoes again. Things I might do differently are:
✷ try growing 3 potatoes instead of 4. The instructions say you can grow up to 4 potatoes per bag, but I want to try less in case they were crowded last time.
✷ add straw more regularly. I wasn't very conscientious with this and only added two or three times. I'm sure I could get more potatoes if I did this more often.
✷ protect the potatoes in hot weather better. I could make sure I water every day, and move the bag to a more sheltered spot on very hot days.
It's almost time for the cycle to start again!
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