Here's what you need to grow your own potatoes in sacks! This is ideal for a garden that doesn't get much light as the sacks are super easy to move around during the day to catch the sun. You can use sprouted potato pieces or whole sprouted "seed" potatoes (it usually takes a week or two in a cool, dark area for potatoes to sprout). You can find seed potatoes online or at your local garden or health food shop. Remember: organic is best since commercially grown crops are given pesticides that can inhibit sprouting. I opted for organic heirloom fingerling potatoes found at my local grocery store...both the white and purple varieties. It's so fun to make purple mashed potatoes! :)
Here's what you need to get started:
- Reusable grocery bags
- Sprouted potatoes of your choosing (I used organic heirloom fingerlings).
- Soil mixture of your preference (I used 1/2 fresh compost from our pile, 1/4 worm castings and 1/4 perlite).
- Mix your soil in a large bucket and use a shovel to scoop about 5-6 inches of soil into each reusable grocery bag.
- Place sprouted potatoes on top of soil mixture, giving them adequate growing space.
- Cover potatoes with 5-6 inches of soil and give them a good watering (be careful not to over-water).
- Place potato sacks in a sunny spot and keep an eye on their progress, watering when needed.
- When the plants have about 6-8 inches of foliage (shown below)...it's time to add more soil!
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| Potato sprouts at 3.5 weeks |
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| Aeon likes to help in the magic garden. |
- Repeat the process of mixing soil (this time I used a brown paper bag).
- Gently add soil until just the tippy tops of the sprouts are showing and give your potatoes some more water.
- When the plant starts to flower and yellow, after about 10 weeks, your potatoes will be ready to harvest and enjoy!
- In just a couple more weeks, these potatoes will be ready for harvesting. I'll be sure to post about harvest and storage techniques, as well as some yummy potato recipes. :) Happy gardening!!!
