Do you want to learn how to grow a lot of potatoes for free? It requires only a small amount of space and it will help you reduce your waste at the same time.
There are several ways to grow a lot of potatoes for free. Potatoes is one of the easiest crops to grow and more importantly, one of the easiest ones to grow successfully in containers. There are so many ways to grow them and you can get it done in less than an afternoon.
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Use your waste to grow a lot of food
This year I cleared my storage and ended up with several cardboard moving boxes that were not going to make it through another move. I had to find a way to dispose of them and naturally, I reused them in the garden. I tore them into smaller pieces and layered them with food waste in a few growing containers. I watered them with used water from inside the house, and I let the rain do its bit as well. Gradually, the level sunk and they began composting. Then I added soil on top and planted a few store bought organic potatoes that had sprouted. It did not take long for them to start growing well above the soil level. As the medium sunk further down in the containers, due to the cardboard breaking down, I topped off with soil.
Using this method I was able to use up both my cardboard waste, my food waste and I was able to turn the waste into a growing medium that enabled me to grow a lot of potatoes for free.
What do you need to grow potatoes in containers?
Well, first of all you need a container, and as long as it has good drainage, and has at least a bucket worth of room in it, it’ll work out well. Then you need a growing medium. Cardboard, straw, soil – whichever you prefer. I do believe there are a few people on YouTube who have even grown potatoes in pure compost, such has mushroom composts from nearby mushroom farms.
Then, naturally, you will need a seed potato of some sort. I used to buy seed potatoes and it was expensive and I didn’t know how to make them last for all the containers I wanted to fill. Nowadays I do, but I still mostly use sprouted organic potatoes that I’ve once purchased directly from the farmers.
You can make them last by:
Chitting them – This refers to the method of cutting larger potatoes into pieces with at least one eye on each piece, while making sure to let the cut sides dry before planting them.
Relying on the sprouts – Planting the sprouts without the potatoes themselves
Fewer & further down – Plant only one or two potatoes/parts/sprouts in each container and plant them only about 15 cm from the bottom of each container. Then keep adding soil as they grow and let new roots and potatoes grow from each covered part of the plants.
How do you make your own seed potatoes?
First of all, I recommend doing this with organic potatoes, or at least locally sourced potatoes. Secondly, you need to make sure they are of a variety that you want to eat and grow. They should also have some size to them. They shouldn’t be too small. I mainly do this in one or two ways.
One – I place them in a paper bag in a dark, cool space – such as a cold storage or pantry – until they have sprouted.
Two – I add a bit of soil to a container, then place the potatoes side by side with some room in between each, and add a second layer of soil on top. They will then, much like the bag of potatoes, stay in a cool, dark place until they have sprouted.
I have had good results with both of these methods, and equally good results with planting potatoes that sprouted on their own – without my interference.
When should you harvest your potatoes?
There are two schools of thought when it comes to this topic, and I tend to go with a combination of the two. Some say that you should wait to harvest until the potato greens have fallen over and started turning brown. Some claim you should wait until the potato plants have flowered and the flowers have died back. The problem with the latter is that that not all potato varieties flower, and that doesn’t mean that they aren’t doing well or that they haven’t or won’t produce a good yield of potatoes.
So personally, I tend to wait until the potato greens are sort of laying down and is starting to die back. Some varieties flower before that stage and some never do, and therefore, by waiting for this stage, you’ll be good no matter which variety you grow.
There are however two things to keep in mind. You can leave them in the soil, but there will be a risk of pests getting to your harvest. So I wouldn’t leave them in there for too long. Second, it is important to water less often for the two weeks leading up to your harvest. Too much water will increase the risk of the full-grown potatoes rotting. It will also make the harvest more difficult. The soil should be dry when you harvest potatoes. It should not be freshly watered.
How do you store your potatoes?
Truth be told, this depends on the variety you are growing. Some store really well. But some are early varieties that are best eaten within the first few weeks after your harvest. It is still a good idea to keep the potatoes as they are. That means not washing them post harvest. I generally keep mine in crates with a thin layer of soil in between each layer of potatoes. The crates are then placed in a cool and dark place.
If you have no such place, then I would suggest storing your harvest in potato bags or paper bags and keeping them cool in a dark cabinet or rinsing them and keeping them in the refrigerator for immediate use.
You are now ready to grow a lot of potatoes for free in containers. Good luck!
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