Grow Your Own Potatoes Belfast
Grow Your Own Potatoes
Preparation
Successfully growing potatoes takes a bit of preparation, starting as much as 2 months before you are going to plant (mid-march/April). To give yourself the best chance of a good crop, you should 'chit' your seed potatoes in late January or early February. Chitting simply means helping the potatoes to sprout before planting. To do this, you will need a box and some way to hold the potatoes upright (old apple boxes are great, or even old egg boxes with the tops cut off). One end of your seed potatoes will have more 'eyes' than the other. This end should be facing up. Store the chitting potatoes somewhere warm with natural light.
Sowing
When the seed potatoes are showing shoots of about 2cm they are ready to plant. This should be around mid-March. Dig a trench around 10cm deep and cover the bottom in a light sprinkling of fertiliser. Place your seed potatoes carefully into the trench, with the shoots facing upwared. Be careful not to break the shoots as you do so. You should leave around 30cm between each potato and at least 40cm between each row. Cover lightly with soil, again being careful not to break any of the shoots.
Maintaining your crop
Keep a close eye on your potatoes and as soon as shoots appear above the soil, pile some loose soil on top of them so that the shoots are just buried. You will need to do this regularly, gradually creating a small mound of soil over each plant. Potatoes need plenty of water to swell once they reach a certain size, so if there is not much rainfall for any length of time, make sure you water the rows well.
Harvesting
Your potatoes should be ready for harvesting from June until September. This depends on the variety and growing conditions. Early crop varieties can be eaten as soon as they are lifted, but main crop need a little time to toughen up. For main crop, cut off the above ground growth at ground level about two weeks before you plan to dig them up. This thickens the skins and helps avoid damage whilst lifting and also increases possible storage time.