GARDENING
Potatoes in Pots
Gerald Filipski
There is nothing like digging up those first new potatoes to enjoy with a meal. My grandmother, who adored new potatoes, used to cheat Mother Nature a bit by poking a soup spoon into the hills to look for the tiny baby potatoes.
You can enjoy your own potato harvest— in a pot.
Practically anything can be grown in a container, including potatoes. In fact, potatoes may be the easiest. All you need is a container, a few seed potatoes, and a bag of potting soil.
Choose a lightweight container— such as a polyurethane foam pot— to offset the weight of the moist soil and potatoes, especially when planting on a balcony where weight is a concern. These decorative pots come in a variety of sizes; a 60-cm wide pot will work. Or, purchase a container that is designed for easy potato harvest.
If you are not concerned about aesthetics, a plastic garbage can will serve. Make sure your container has drainage holes at the bottom; if not, drill several 1-cm holes.
Place 15 cm of potting soil mixed with compost and a sprinkling of slow-release 14-14-14 fertilizer, place seed potatoes on this layer— spaced 12.5 cm apart— and cover with another 15 cm of mixed potting soil and compost. This is the key to growing potatoes in containers: planting the spuds at the bottom and leaving lots of room at the top.
In two to three weeks, you will start to see the
leaves. When the plants are 10 cm tall, add more soil until only 2.5 cm of the foliage is showing. The added soil allows the underground stems to grow, which will produce more potatoes. Add soil as the plants grow, until the vines grow up and over the sides of the pot. Keep the vines from breaking by tying them to sturdy stakes. When the vines begin to bloom, the underground stems will produce potatoes. Now is the time to get your soup spoon and look for new potatoes, or you can wait until the tops die in the fall to harvest the full-sized spuds.
It is absolutely necessary to keep the container well-watered. The soil should be moist, but not wet, and never allowed to fully dry out. During hot summer days, you may have to water on a daily basis. A drip irrigation system on a timer may be helpful if watering frequently is a problem for your schedule.
The advantages of growing potatoes in containers are the relatively few pests, extremely easy harvesting, and and their fantastic taste! As for varieties, grow any type you want. Yukon Gold potatoes taste nice, with yellow flesh and a buttery flavour. You can try growing some
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