Potato plants grow potatoes from their roots underground. They are very easy to grow in a bag! Yes, in a bag!

We need:

– ‘seed potatoes’

– cardboard tubes (toilet paper rolls)

– a bag of compost. If the bag is big, we can grow 2 or 3 potato plants inside it.

1. ‘Chitting’: Our potato plant will be much stronger if the seed potato grows shoots before planting. We shoud leave it in a sunny place.

2. Empty out ⅔ of the compost bag. Put the seed potato, cover it with compost and water well. (April)

3. ‘Earthing up’: cover up the stem until just the tip is showing.

4. Check the compost every 2 or 3 days to see if it needs watering. As the stem grows, cover it up with more compost.

Long stems and lots of green leaves mean that our potato plant is healthy. Some plants grow flowers, that is a very good signs that means that our plant is growing lots of potatoes underground.

Harvest: July-August-September

*** Important information! ***

• The steams and leaves of potatoes are poisonous, so do not ever eat them!

 

• If growing potatoes get too much light, they turn green and are poisonous. Adding extra compost around the stem, known as ‘earthing up’, creates a barrier to block out some of the sunlight and protect our plants.