This spring I decided to try growing salad potatoes for the first time. I grew them in a potato sack, and as per the instructions I found on the internet, half filled the bag with compost, placed my chitted potatoes in the bag and liberally covered them with a chunk more compost. As the shoots started to come through, as per the instructions, I kept covering them with more compost until I reached the top level of the bag.
Potatoes are in the solanaceae family and as a general rule that family likes lots of sun, lots of water and lots of feed, so I basically treated them a bit like tomatoes but with out the removal of side shoots and no need for supports.
I waited until all the top shoots were flowering and then checked if any potatoes were there...
And it really paid off!
This is it.... I will be growing potatoes every spring from now on. Even in a small container garden you get a really good crop. I harvested 900g of salad potatoes from the potato growing sack in the picture above. It really was like digging for treasure!
Salad potatoes are usually pretty pricey so this is a great crop to grow at home. And don't they look perfect?
They were so crisp to cut. I get an enormous pleasure chopping food I've grown myself. Its a mixture of pride, having earnt the privelege through nurturing and watering and now getting the reward from all that hard work. Lots of emotions!
What did I do with my new found bounty? you might ask... I made the most wonderful potato salad. The potatoes were so crisp to cut through, only needed a light brushing to remove the earth so I par-boiled them and promptly made some homemade mayonnaise to go with and a few chopped salad onions to garnish (also from the garden). It really was very yummy!
Here's a link to my Potato Salad recipe
Potatoes are in the solanaceae family and as a general rule that family likes lots of sun, lots of water and lots of feed, so I basically treated them a bit like tomatoes but with out the removal of side shoots and no need for supports.
I waited until all the top shoots were flowering and then checked if any potatoes were there...
And it really paid off!
This is it.... I will be growing potatoes every spring from now on. Even in a small container garden you get a really good crop. I harvested 900g of salad potatoes from the potato growing sack in the picture above. It really was like digging for treasure!
Salad potatoes are usually pretty pricey so this is a great crop to grow at home. And don't they look perfect?
They were so crisp to cut. I get an enormous pleasure chopping food I've grown myself. Its a mixture of pride, having earnt the privelege through nurturing and watering and now getting the reward from all that hard work. Lots of emotions!
What did I do with my new found bounty? you might ask... I made the most wonderful potato salad. The potatoes were so crisp to cut through, only needed a light brushing to remove the earth so I par-boiled them and promptly made some homemade mayonnaise to go with and a few chopped salad onions to garnish (also from the garden). It really was very yummy!
Here's a link to my Potato Salad recipe
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