Garden Survival and Success

Potato Pots
(Part II)

How to plant in containers

Step1: Prepare your soil mix. I prefer to use a half and half mix of potting soil and farmyard manure. Good garden centers will stock pre-packed farmyard manure. Alternatively use an organic potting soil mix.

Step 2: Fill the pot with the potting mix about 3-4 inches high. Depending on pot size put in 3-5 seed potatoes.

Step 3: Cover them with the potting soil and manure mixture. Add a couple of handful organic fertilizer and mix it well into the soil. Don't fill the pot up to the top yet. Leave 3-4 inches to the rim of the pot. Water them in well and keep the soil slightly moist all the time (not wet!).

Step 4: Once your potatoes have grown to about an inch over the rim fill the pot up with more potting soil. This will prevent the new potatoes on top from going green. After water your potatoes to keep the soil moist.

Step 5: Now watch your potato plants grow! Make sure that they don't dry out. Regular watering is a must. Add a bit more of the organic fertilizer after five or six weeks.

Step 6: When to Harvest Your Potatoes

It’s hard to judge the size of your potato crop from above, so plunge your hand in and have a root around! The first tubers will be ready to enjoy soon after plants come into flower. Feel for the tubers, pulling free any that have reached the size of a hen’s egg, or allow them to grow on to your preference. As soon as the foliage begins to die down it’s time to tip out the contents of your container and gather the stragglers. By feeling about like this you will be able to prolong the period of eating, while allowing plants to grow on and swell those tubers that remain.