Growing potatoes on the balcony and in the garden

You have a garden or a balcony and want to grow potatoes? I'll tell you here how this works best and what tricks you can use to get the most harvest.

I love potatoes. So it was obvious that soon I will start to plant my own potatoes.

You also feel like it? Growing potatoes is really not difficult and is also suitable for beginners. You don't even need a big garden.

Even flower pots or wooden boxes are enough to plant the tuber.

Potatoes, unlike other plants, are not sown. They are laid. And how that works exactly, you can find out here.

When is the best time to plant potatoes?

Already at the beginning of April can be planted the first potatoes, if you want to start so early, choose early potatoes. For classic tubers, late April to early May is the best time to plant them on the balcony or in the garden.

The soil temperature must be at least 7 ° Celsius, better - 10 °. Then you can harvest for the first time already in July.

Tip: If it gets cold again, you should cover the bed/pot with a fleece. Potatoes do not tolerate low temperatures.

By the way, you get the most out of the harvest if you sow in several batches - that is, put tubers in different pots about 14 days apart.

How many potatoes to grow per person?

Per square meter you can expect a yield of about 3 to 3.5 kg. However, it strongly depends on the location and the condition of the soil how much you can actually harvest in the end.

If you want to be completely self-sufficient, you need about 60 kg of potatoes per person per year. For this, you need 19 to 20 square meters of cultivation area - i.e. a large garden or a small field.

From one mother tuber you can harvest 15 to 25 potatoes. Per square meter put 4 seed potatoes in the ground.

Can you plant normal potatoes?

To grow potatoes in the garden or on the balcony, you can use ordinary tubers from the supermarket, but you need to pre-sprout them.

But you can go to a hardware store or a flower store and buy seed potatoes. They are small, very wizened and already have first shoots. But they don't have to be. This way you can grow the tubers yourself. From mid-February you can start with these steps:

• Start preparations 4-6 weeks before you want to plant the potatoes.
• Select tubers without damage.
• Place them individually in an egg carton and leave the lid open.
• Store the tubers in a bright place at least 10° to about 20°. Do not put them in direct sunlight.
• And already they begin to pre-sprout by themselves.

Why is pre-growing worthwhile? By pre-sprouting you accelerate your harvest. You can start harvesting potatoes up to 3 weeks earlier.

Wait to plant the potatoes until they have 3-5 cm long shoots. I always store the smallest potatoes of the harvest for the next year in the cellar. My seed potatoes are only about 3-4 cm.

Good to know: not all potatoes sprout. Many are treated with special agents that prevent just that. Go for organic potatoes, they start to sprout faster in my experience.

If you're wondering if this works for sweet potatoes, you should stop by here. I explain to you in this post very preciselywhat are the peculiarities of the tuber.

What varieties are best suited to grow potatoes?

Potatoes come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors and flavors. They come in different sizes, such as rosemary potatoes, which are tiny, and oven potatoes, which are quite large. In terms of shape, they can be round, oval, oblong or slightly curved; some have a mild taste, while others have a rich flavor with a hint of nutty aroma.

Unusual and old varieties of potatoes are particularly interesting to plant. They first bloom purple, white, pink and later make any dish a real eye-catcher.

If you are lucky, you can find some fancy tubers on the market. But here you need to find out if they are suitable for planting. In order to keep potatoes for a long time, they are treated so that they do not sprout. Therefore, not all of them are suitable for planting.

My favorite varieties include:

• Purple potato "Blue Congo
• Red-yellow seed potato "Nemo
• Blue potato "Blue St. Galler
• Dark red potato "Mulberry Beauty

I could spend hours clicking through the varieties. 😅

Or if you want something really unusual, you can buy a TomTato plant. This is a mixture of potato and tomato. Potatoes grow on the roots and cocktail tomatoes grow above ground on the foliage. However, you shouldn't expect much yield from this.

How to mash potatoes without a masher!

Floury and firm

However, in terms of flavor, all potatoes are firm and crisp when uncooked, but after cooking they become "mealy," "firm," or "mostly firm."

The starch content of the potato is the main difference between them. Floury potatoes are often used for mashed potatoes because they fall apart more easily, but for crispy fried potatoes, firm cooking potatoes should be used.

Early and late potatoes

The ripening time of the potato is also important for gardeners and farmers. Potatoes can be stored for a long time, but if you want to have access to the crop all year round and save storage space at the same time, use a mix of early and late maturing varieties in your beds.

Why a potato tower on the balcony is useful

When you have little space on the balcony or terrace, the Acquisition of a potato tower. These are 4 pots that you can stack on top of each other. In all tiers you plant the tubers.

This has the advantage that you can get a good harvest very space-saving.

You protect the plants from predators such as voles and can build the tower anywhere, guaranteed to find the right place in the sun.

Harvesting is very uncomplicated and quickly done.

Tip: With the Code WEGOWILD you get 10% Discount on your potato tower!

If you're interested in a potato tower, check out Gustagarden!  The tower is available in white and gray. I have decided for the gray variant and make me now immediately times to plant :)

When to plant potatoes in the potato tower?

It is best to wait with the construction of the tower until after the ice saints. Because the potatoes are grown above ground, they are at the mercy of night frosts. However, if you put a lot of love into growing them, you won't mind carrying the pots into the apartment at night.

You can plant potatoes until the end of June.

What location do the plants need?

No matter which planter you choose, a big role plays the suitable location.

Potatoes love direct sunlight. So choose a sunny spot for your potato plants. Since the tubers do not like waterlogging, the soil should be light to moderately heavy and well-drained. If necessary, mix clay soil with sand to make it lighter. If the soil is poor, the yield may be significantly reduced.

Use green manure or natural fertilizer to improve soil quality if needed.

How to grow potatoes properly?

Potatoes are not sown or prepared in soil. You put or stick them directly into the ground. To do this, they are first pre-sprouted and then put into the ground. Grow potatoes succeeds in the flower pot, potato tower and in the garden.

In flower pot

1. Fill the flower pot 3/4 full with soil and loosen the soil.
2. Water the earth.
3. Take the pre-sprouted potato and put it on the ground. In each pot put only one potato - no more than two small.
4. Fill up the remaining soil. Important: All shoots must be in the soil. Water again a little.
5. Place the pot in a sunny place.

Grow potatoes in a flower pot succeeds even better than I thought. My first harvest turned out abundantly and I will definitely plant 1-2 potatoes again.

If you want to grow potatoes in a pot, then you need a large flower pot. It should have at least one Diameter from 60 cm have

Alternative planters

But now there are already special potato pots. They consist of an inner and outer pot. You can remove the potatoes from the side without having to lift the soil or plant out of the pot.

Take a look at Amazon. Here is a wide range of potato pots and planting bags. They greatly facilitate the harvest. You can also take out a potato every now and then and let the plant continue to grow.

Also very well work planting bags and planting bags. Like the potato pots, they are open on the sides in addition they have carrying handles and are very breathable. I found planting bags on Amazon, which hold 30 liters of soil and are perfect for potatoes.

You can also use jute pots or ask coffee roasters for old coffee sacks. In them will fit 3-4 seed potatoes.

These herbs you can easily grow on the balcony!

How can I grow potatoes in the garden?

In the garden, potato plants are usually placed in dams. The reason is that the soil warms up so much more and the tubers can grow better.

1. Make a 15 cm deep furrow in the garden with a hoe.
2. Place the potatoes in the furrow with the shoots facing up.
3. Note the planting distance of 50 cm.
4. When you can see the first shoots of the plants on the surface of the soil, start mounding.
5. While doing this, pull the soil to the plant so that the potato tubers do not get sunlight
6. You do this until you see the first flowers.

Pile potatoes

Mounding ensures that the tubers grow better, the soil is constantly loose and weeds can not form.

When mounding, you always fill soil on the dams - that is, around the potato plant. This is important so that the tubers are always covered with soil. If they get light, they turn green and become slightly poisonous.

When the stems reach a height of about 25 cm, you pour enough soil so that 10 cm of the foliage is visible. This procedure may need to be done 1-2 times during the growing season.

But you don't have to do that. Growing potatoes also works if you put them in normal soil and make sure that they are not washed free by rain.

Potatoes that grow in the garden, you do not need to water. Unless there is a drought at the moment. In the field, potatoes also grow into beautiful tubers without the farmer watering them. They get what they need directly from the soil.

• Sowing depth: 8 to 10 cm
• Row spacing: 30 - 35 cm
• Planting out in the garden: April to June
• Ready for harvest: 4-5 months after planting

If you wish, you can cover the plant with a layer of straw and grass clippings. This will encourage soil organisms and warm up the soil, which will have a positive effect on your harvest.

My mini garden is teeming with voles. But because potato plants are difficult to stop from vole grids and like to grow sometimes below the grid, I decided to use pots and boxes.

When is the right time to harvest potatoes?

If the plants begin to bloom, it is a sign that potatoes are now forming in the ground. From August, the plants wither. The leaves turn yellow and dry. Now it can go to the harvest.

By the way, you can harvest early potatoes when the plants are in bloom. You should eat them immediately after harvesting. They are difficult to store.

You will find the tubers under the main shoot distributed in the soil in a radius of about 50 centimeters. That is why it is so important that you leave enough space between the plants when growing potatoes.

If you harvest potatoes in the garden, use a spade. Poke it into the ground and lift the potatoes to the surface. Pick them up and put them in the pot.

If you harvest the potatoes from the pot, it is best to lay out a tarp. Pour the contents of the pot onto the tarp and pick out the tubers. That way you won't miss any.

Also interesting contributions for you

• How to propagate basil with cuttings!
• Grow your own peppers can be so easy!
• Plant radishes in the flower box!
• Build a strawberry column in just 4 steps

What you need to consider when growing potatoes

Potatoes are very easy to care for. You don't have to water them every day, even in the pot. Simply wonderful, isn't it?

The soil for potatoes

I have a cheap potting soil mixed with vegetable soil 50:50 and my plants have turned out really nice.

Potatoes do best on light to medium deep soils.

Nutrient-rich beds with compost or manure provide the best result when growing potatoes. Potatoes grow even on poor soils. But the yield will be lower.

Watering potato plants

Waterlogged potatoes do not tolerate at all. It may happen that they begin to rot. With drought they can easily cope for a few days.

I water the pots every 3 days with about a liter of water. My planters are in partial shade.

Important: If you take a pot, then it must necessarily have holes so that the water can drain.

Planting potatoes in the right place

Potatoes love the sun. In the shade they do not like to grow. However, partial shade is fine, as long as they get at least 3 hours of sunlight and then stand brightly.

The storage

If you want to store potatoes or use them as seed tubers for next year, you should harvest them on a dry day. Then put them in the sun for a few hours and dry them.

Be sure to sort out damaged tubers right away and eat them immediately.

Put the potatoes in a net or a bag with a few holes. Store them in a cool, dark and not too dry place.

I just keep my seed potatoes in the fridge in the vegetable drawer. 6 weeks before planting potatoes, I put them on the windowsill. And it can start all over again :)

In 5 steps to homemade flower bombs!

Our conclusion

Grow potatoes is not witchcraft. The plants are very unpretentious. What they need is sunlight and a nutrient-rich soil. In pots, however, potatoes also grow into magnificent tubers in a mixture of potting and vegetable soil.

Good luck and good harvest! :)

To browse further:

• Potato tower: Is it worth it? My experience report!
• Make your own wild herb salt: this is the best method!
• Make your own willow bark tincture: so simple and so effective!

* Advertising & affiliate links: Our website is financed by advertising and affiliate links. As a partner of linked stores (e.g. Amazon) we earn from qualified sales.
Read more