Achievement During Lockdown

[MartinMillar]

I planted a potato that was sprouting in my veggie basket at the start of lockdown.
Today I dug it up and now have 32 baby potatoes from one supermarket potato.
I did it is an experiment as I’m not a Gardner by any means but I’m really surprised at what I’ve managed to achieve.

[TonyV]

Got some potatoes sprouting in compost bin.

[New Judge]

//Home grown potatoes are lovely. What are you going to eat them with?//

I find a knife and fork is usually best! :-)

[alavahalf]

The more soil or compost you have covering the potatoes the more potatoes you will get.
If you can get something deeper than a builders bucket, so much the better.
I only have around 30 plants in the ground. All the rest are grown in 30 ltr buckets. They come out like little bars of soap, absolutely unblemished.

[TonyV]

I have an old plastic dustbin I can use, just need to put a few holes in it.

[alavahalf]

Perfect .. plenty of holes for drainage and put in six inches of compost and put in 6 or 8 spuds. Once they pop through the compost just cover them with
another 12" of compost. Keep repeating until the bin is full. Stand it in full sun so as to get all the benefit of growth in the remainder of the summer. Leave them in the compost even after all the foliage has collapsed.
I have done similar in the past using car tyres with the walls cut off .. just kept adding a tyre and more compost after the spuds emerged.

[MartinMillar]

Thank you for the tips, one more thing can I reuse the soil if I mix some fertiliser in with it?

[alavahalf]

As the nutrients have been used up by the potatoes, it would be hopless to try and do the same again. The next potatoes would be tiny like marbles.
What I do with old potato compost is just add some fresh compost to it and mix well and then sew carrots in it. There is very little resistance in old compost and the carrots will grow long and straight. Works every time.

[alavahalf]

Sorry .. yes fertiliser would be okay. Personally I would only add chicken pellets.

[eleanor2]

You had a go ... & it paid off! Brilliant!

[MartinMillar]

Just had homegrown potatoes and cabbage served with corn beef and it was delicious

[eleanor2]

Thumbs up!

[tiggerblue10]

That's fantastic. If it wasn't for my worm phobia I would love a veg patch in the garden.

[alavahalf]

No worms = poor soil. Why not create a raised bed. It's not to late yet, I have been sewing seeds tonight !