How to Successfully Grow Potatoes in a Grow Bag

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Growing potatoes, particularly in urban or smaller gardens, may seem impossible, but as someone with a very small green space, I can happily say that I have managed to successfully grow them for the last few years. I don’t have much room, I had no previous experience, I’ve never had an allotment and I don’t have large beds or planters, so how do I do it? With potato grow bags and here’s how you can grow your own too…

Choosing the Right Grow Bags

There are a wide variety of grow bags (or containers) available both online and in garden centres, most of which are made out of plastic or felt/woven fabrics. I much prefer the fabric/jute bags as they are breathable, allow good drainage and are easy to fold up and store during the winter. Another advantage to using grow bags is that you can move them around your garden as required, whether that is to provide them with more sun or to gain more space, plus they are reusable!

Selecting Potato Varieties

Your first seed potatoes to grow from in the year are called first early potatoes which are your lovely light, soft and fluffy new potatoes. These are often found very easily in garden centres or online before spring hits so make sure you get in around January/February time to get your pick of the crop (you’d be surprised at how fast they sell out!) You should ideally aim to get these planted out in early April and they should be ready to harvest in around 10-12 weeks.

Second early potatoes come in between your first early and main crop. These can again be planted out in early/mid-April and should be ready in June.

Your main crop potatoes are the larger varieties such as Maris Piper, King Edward and Desiree. These can be planted out in mid-late April and will be ready to harvest from August-October.

Preparing Potatoes for Planting

As mentioned above, you can find a wide variety in garden centres which will be certified disease-free seed potatoes and come from reputable suppliers. Always fully inspect your chosen batch for size, evidence of a problem and quality etc.

Prior to planting out, you will need to do what we call ‘chit’ your seed potatoes. This is the process which refers to the growth of sprouts -the ‘eyes’ (basically the small nobbly bits on the seed potato). You do this by placing them inside egg boxes or something quite similar, with the eyes facing up. You should then pop them in a cool, light location to encourage sprouting. For first early potatoes, you want to start this around February time and aim to ensure that they are ready for April.

The Planting Process

To begin with, roll your potato grow bag down to around a 1/3 high and fill with around 10 cm of peat-free compost. Take 3-5 of your seed potatoes, place them on top of the compost and cover these with another 10 cm of compost. Water them well and position your bags in a sunny spot in your garden.

Growing Steps

Once your potato plants have shoots that have reached around 8 cm, it is time to ‘earth them up’ – by this we mean re-covering them with another 10 cm of (peat-free) compost. You will need to do this every couple of weeks as your plants increase in size. This is to ensure that the potatoes are not exposed to light and grow large and healthy. As you top up your compost, you will need to gradually roll the sides of the bag back up until eventually it reaches its intended height.

Potatoes are so simple to care for; as long as they are well covered, have plenty of light and are watered, you really can’t go wrong – I haven’t ever, and I’ve never done anything special to mine. I’ve just left them to do their thing.

Harvesting Potatoes

Early potatoes can be harvested from around 10 weeks after planting, while main crop varieties may take 12-20 weeks. The usual indicator that they are ready for picking is that the flowers have died and wilted. With the grow bag I have suggested above, you can also check their progress by opening the flap and taking a look inside the base of your bag.

To harvest, carefully tip the grow bags over and sift through the compost to collect the potatoes. You may be surprised by how many you can get from just 1 bag alone.

There we have it, simple potato growing for small spaces. If I can do it, anyone can. So, why not give it a go this year? Grab yourself some grow bags, chit your potatoes and prepare for a fantastic growing season!

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