You will need to pick out a container such as a 20-jerrican or a nine-litre bucket. Alternatively, you can buy used containers.
Clean your container and poke holes in the bottom and sides as good drainage is critical for healthy potatoes.
Alternatively, you can cut out the bottom altogether and place it on a well-drained surface like your garden bed.
Planting
Potato seeds, particularly the earliest and second earliest benefit from ‘chitting’ which is the process of growing shoots on potato tubers prior to planting. The benefit is that this will produce fast-growing and heavy crops.
Remove the seed potatoes from their packaging and lay them out in a free position. You will notice that the immature shoots are all at one end (called the rose end).
Place the potatoes with this end facing upwards. By the time you are ready to plant them, they will have produced shoots that are up to 25mm long.
Harvesting
Harvest times will vary depending on the growing season and the size of tuber you want. Start to harvest earliest when the plants begin to flower, approximately 10 weeks from planting.
It is worth having a gentle dig below the surface to check the potato sizes.
If they are too small, simply leave them for another week or so, otherwise, lift them and enjoy. Main crop varieties are usually left for at least two weeks after the leaves and haulms (stems) have withered, to allow the skins to set.
Cut down the stems with secateurs to just above soil level as the leaves wither and yellow, or if they show signs of blight.
