Growing Potatoes - Rocky Mountain Flatbread Education Society

It's potato growing season!

Students at Lord Tennyson Elementary School started growing their own potatoes in tubs on a rainy day in April.

They followed a few simple instructions and are hoping to harvest lots of potatoes in a few months time!

The simple instructions:

1. Buy some seedling potatoes and make sure the eyes (sprouting bits coming out of the potato are about 1 inch - you can do this by spreading them out on a baking tray and spraying them with a little water and leaving them near sunlight).

2. Put a layer of dirt at the bottom of a large container.

3. Put 1 - 3 potatoes in your container and cover with dirt. For a smaller container put 1 potato for a larger containers put 3 and for a super large container like a garbage bin put 4 - 6.

4. Keep the container indoor by sunlight and the soil moist - not wet.

5. When the shoots grow through the soil just keep topping up with soil. So the stem is fully covered with soil. Don't cover the leaves with soil.

6. Plant outside after about 4 - 6 weeks. If your container is big enough - you can just move the container outside.

If you are trying this in summer months you can plant your potatoes directly outside in containers or in garden beds in trenches and follow the same simple instructions as above.

We shall keep you up to date with our progress. We have already made a few mistakes - but hoping our potatoes will grow anyway! We didn't let our potato eyes sprout 1 inch and we left our poor potatoes outside on their first night.

For more professional advise on container potato growing visit: container-gardening-tips.com/container-vegetable-gardening/growing-potatoes-in-containers.html.

Other things you can start growing outside in April include snap peas, salad, strawberries, asparagus, chard, onions, rhubarb and herbs!! We are trying our green fingers with that too!