The Easiest Way to Grow Potatoes
by
LA Murano
2 Materials
I grow potatoes every year and have honestly never started them this early before! However, I have a bag of potatoes that have sprouted so severely that I decided they are just asking to be planted. I'm also planting these potatoes in feed bags because that is the easiest way to plant potatoes that I have ever tried! I love this method for several reasons mostly because I don't have to dig to harvest the potatoes. Also, there's practically no weeding. Plus its another way to reuse all those feed bags I have accumulated.
I apparently had ignored these potatoes for so long that some of the sprouts were over a foot long! I actually had to cut the mesh bag to get them out without breaking the sprouts off. After I got them out of the bag I cut them into chunks and let them dry out for 2 days.
I grabbed some empty feed bags and after cutting a few holes in the bottoms of each bag for drainage, I filled them with about 6" of soil and compost mix and put them in a full sun area of the garden. (you can use the thick black contractor garbage bags if you don't have feed bags) I placed a few potatoes sprout side up in each bag. Normally I put another 2" of soil and compost mixture on top of them, but some of these sprouts were so long they needed a bit more then that!
Roll the bag down so it's only a few inches taller then the dirt and then water them. You want the the soil moist but not wet. As the potato plants grow you'll want to add a few more inches of dirt every few weeks unrolling the bag a little more each time. This mimics the traditional hilling method of potato growing. Keep going till the bag is almost full, adding more compost and unrolling the bag each time.
When the leaves start to die off you're about ready to harvest. Stop watering and wait about 2 weeks for the leaves to dry out completely. At this point I usually cut a slit in the bottom of each bag to let moisture out in case it rains. To harvest potatoes simply tip the bag over and split it open with a knife. You'll have to root around in the dirt a little to get all the potatoes, but it's much easier then digging them out of the ground with a shovel!
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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2 of 4 comments
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Grow my potatoes in pots. Put a little dirt into a container Make sure there is a drain hole. Cover the potato sprout with dirt. When you see the first leaves cover with dirt and keep this up until the pot is now full of dirt, everytime you see a leaf cover it. My potatoes weigh up to a pound each. I probably have 5-6 potato plants in each pot, or in a big pot I have about 8 plants. One year I just took the potato sprouts threw them into a pot no potato attached just the spouts and got a lot of potatoes.
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Wow! That's a lot of potatoes!
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