GARDENING TIPS

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Our Head of Maintenance Services Carl Taylor shares his top tips on…‘Growing Potatoes in Containers’

If you don’t have the room in your garden to plant potatoes or even if you have no garden at all, you can grow potatoes in buckets or containers. Here are some tips for growing potatoes in pots, grow bags, and buckets.

2. You can buy seed potatoes from any garden centre, or you may find an old potato starts to root in the bag!

3. You can start growing anytime between Spring and Autumn.

4. If you have your own compost, then that will be great! If not, then purchased compost specifically made for containers will work. To save money you can add some soil out of the garden and make a 50/50 mix.

5. You don’t need to feed the plants, but if you wish you can use an organic granular fertilizer.

6. Keep well-watered!! Plants grown out of the ground and in containers need more watering as they dry out quickly in warm weather. The plants will stop growing if they become dry or overheated! By sticking your finger in the soil, you can see if the top two inches of the soil feels dry. Water deeply until the water drains out the bottom holes so the moisture reaches the roots at the bottom of the container.

7. Make sure you keep checking for any new potatoes that become exposed to sunlight and keep covered with soil! New potatoes will develop areas of green skin when they’re exposed to direct sunlight. Any green areas are toxic and should be trimmed away.

8. Potatoes flourish with at least 6-8 hour of sunlight per day. However, if there are long periods of extremely warm weather, try to place your containers in an area that receives morning sun, then is partially shaded during the afternoon.