Grow your own potatoes at home!

The future is about going green and being sustainable. With all the climate change and ongoing debates, learning how to grow your own plants can pay off in the long run and one of the best ways to start on this green initiative is learning how to grow your own potatoes.

Growing potatoes in your own home can be both exciting and economical. And better still, you can save money knowing you have a food source right at your own backyard.

Here are some tips you can follow if you want to produce your own potatoes.

1. Getting started

Buy some seed potatoes and choose those with lots of eyes. A potato with six to seven eyes can produce up to two pounds. If you want more, then you’ll need at least five seed potatoes.

Scrub these and remove dirt. Cut your potato in half and make sure you don’t cut through the eye. This part is what will germinate. Put toothpicks at the side of the potatoes enough to hold them when you place them on top of a jar. Fill the jar up to the brim enough to submerge the bottom part of the potato. See to it that the eyes of the potatoes are covered with water because they will not sprout otherwise.

2. Where to plant your potatoes

Choose a sunny location to position your potatoes. If you’re not sure about the sunlight then you can use LED lights to help the potatoes grow.

3. Be patient

It will take a week for sprouts to appear!

After this, you need to transplant them to a container. It is best to choose containers with drainage holes. Place small stones at the bottom to support water drainage. Fill the pot potting soil – about a third of the pot. You should add soil as the plant grows. Transfer the potatoes to the container root side down. Cover potatoes with soil then keep adding once it reaches 6” above the surface.

You can harvest your potatoes once you see the small tubers!

Planting potatoes in your home should not be hard. You can always control just how many you want to grow with the right knowledge. Research always helps.