Don’t worry if you don’t have a big garden, yet you want your own, fresh and organic supply of yummy potatoes. In fact, you can grow them easily and effortlessly in pots or grow bags at home.
It doesn’t matter if you live in an apartment or a house-you just need a small space to grow them. They’re easy to care for and are an awesome and nutritious addition to your meals.
Consuming them will supply you with a long list of nutrients, including vitamins, potassium, iron, and fiber.
But, the store-bought options are often sprayed with chemicals or aren’t organic. By being able to grow your own, you’ll always control what’s used during their growth.
What Are the Best Potato Varieties for Containers?
Fingerling potatoes: these are small, 2 to 4 inches long potatoes with a narrow, finger or oblong shape.
Early potatoes: these are awesome for pots are they mature fast and produce crop at once.
Small, with a sweet flavor, and a delicate texture, some of the best varieties are Irish Cobbler, Sangre, Red Gold, and Yukon Gold.
How to Plant Potatoes in Your Garden?
- Choose bigger containers-the bigger they are, the more space does the plant have to form strong roots and tubers.
Make sure it’s at least 16 inches in diameter and in height. Plant 4 to 6 seeds inside.
- You can also use grow bags- these fabric bags are awesome for potato growing. They reduce risk of overwatering and provide good air flow to the roots.
The 5-gallon ones are awesome to grow 2 to 3 seed potatoes inside.
What’s the Best Soil for Potatoes?
One that’s lightweight-potting mixes for containers will do just fine.
If you decide to make your own, a good blend is 1/3 compost, 1/3 perlite, and 1/3 coconut coir or peat moss.
What about Fertilizing them?
They will definitely benefit from feeding-but, make sure it’s organic and granular fertilizer.
Once the plants come out of the soil, feed them every 2 weeks with fish emulsion.
Also, spray them in the early morning so that the foliage has time to absorb the nutrients and then dry before the midday sun.
Make Sure You Water them well
Potatoes grow above ground have different watering demands than the ones grown inside. As the soil isn’t as insulated as optimally as in the ground, the water will evaporate faster.
When it’s warm, check the pots often by putting the finger inside. If the top two inches are dry, water the potatoes. Do this deeply until you see water coming out of the drainage holes.
Why Is Hilling Important?
When the potted plants reach 6 to 8 inches of height, earth up the soil above the base until only an inch of distance to the lower leaves.
Repeat this every 2 to 3 weeks until the pot isn’t filled up to 18 to 24 inches of soil depth or there’s only 2 inches of free space left above.
Harvest them after the blooms have gone and the leaves turned yellow.
Sources:
