We live in the Netherlands where we have to deal with 4 seasons. It was 10 June 2022 and I wanted to experiment with potatoes.
In our backyard we have enough space to grow anything we want. (Ok, not everything). Since I have hay fever it was better to have artificial grass in our backyard. If I want to grow something, I would need to use pots.
I did some research online and I found out that you can grow potatoes from sprouting potatoes!
First I thought: " Hmm, doesn't make sense to grow 1 potato from 1 potato. Why on earth would I do that? But then, I read that you can just peel the potatoes. So you only need the peel of the potatoes. But of course you need to cut them thick. So I cut them very thick, since I want this experiment to succeed ;-) !
I didn't want to invest too much in a new pot. So I was looking around what I can use. I found this large Ikea bag and I thought it would be perfect for this experiment. I filled the bag with soil, for 1/3 of the bag. put the chunky thick potato peel on top and covered it with a THIN layer of soil. I put it somewhere shiny but not too bright spot. Gave it water every day. As soon you see green leaves/plants growing, you can add more soil every time.
Here you see its beginning to grow green leaves. SO cute and adorable! I know, it sounds crazy, but for a newbie like me, it looks super cute!
This picture was made 6th of July. It's growing so fast and I couldn't wait actually! I wanted to dig! Not a golddigger here, but a potato digger!
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22nd of July. They say, some potatoes may give flowers. They were right. but not all had flowers. I was so excited and wanted to dig in the soil. But I read somewhere, you should wait till the plants dry out and hang. If you would dig at this stage, you might end up having only small mini potatoes. So I needed to be more patient.
3rd of September. Finally it looks sad! But I felt happy of course. Time to dig! Before I started, I was thinking: Should I wait a little bit longer? If I wait a little longer, would they be bigger then? But I waited so long, that I couldn't care less.
I was quite happy to see the amount of potatoes we got. Almost 2 kg!
I am not sure if I would do this again next year. I think it's still cheaper to buy them at the grocery shop. It is also quicker to get. But it was definitely a nice experiment.
Hey there!
Good on ya for doing this you potato digger!😁
That's something that many people are not aware of.
That was quite a harvest for a novice "farmer"...
This is encouraging for when I return to living on a boat in the UK. It would save me a bit to grow my potatoes and a great way for me to connect to earth daily.
Nice one:)))
Hey @millycf1976, thank you for stopping by!
Yes, not all women all gold diggers right? ;-)
Nature is so big and we have so much to explore! hehehe, that was indeed quite a harvest. The bigger the pot/bag the bigger the harvest they say.
Wow, you live on a boat? must be cool to travel on a boathouse. I don't remember the last time being on a boat. Yes, connecting to earth gives you definitely inner peace!
Enjoy your weekend!
Yes, not all of us are gold diggers at all!!!
I was pretty impressed with what you did with the potatoes.
I live as a continuous cruiser on a narrowboat, the UK's version of a Dutch Barge. We sold the one we had a few months before coming back to Jamaica because we love the lifestyle so much and want to get a bigger boat when we return:)
Never thought of boats or cruising in my life. The only time I was thinking of a boat was when I wanted to work on a cruise ship in my early 20s. Didn't do it because of the too narrow/small room we would get. Good luck with your next boat!
Thank you!
No, I don't speak any Dutch. I attended an American uni in 2007. I could understand and read Dutch while I was living there, but I was always shy to speak it. I used to speak a little German and I thought the Dutch would have been similar, but I found it very different:))
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Sack is an awesome idea when in need for an extra space, we usually plant them on a wider open plot. Is there any benefits from cutting potatoes or?
Planting from sprouts is also a great thing we practice around here, but without previous cutting, whole sprouted potato buried.
Could be it speeds up the growing process, might try this out.
Glad I bumped here.(:
Hi @alt3r, thank you for stopping by :-). Yes, if you have bigger space, you will get bigger harvest. Well, I cut them because we still can eat the potatoes, so we just plant the potato peel. Im not sure if it will speed up the process. Maybe u can compare. Good luck!
Wow! it is really possible to grow potatoes in our garden. Congrats for that achievement. Your first try is worth it.
Thank you @jenthoughts :-)