Growing ‘taytoes’ is so easy your kids will love it, whatever their age.
If, like us, you’re a bit limited for space or you’re growing with kids in school or in a gardening club, you can easily grow potatoes in bags or containers. They grow just as well and you can even get bags with little peep holes so the inquisitive kids you’re working with can have a little peek every now and then, which helps to keep the excitement going until harvest.
Here are 5 easy steps to grow your own potatoes. All 5 steps can be done by the children themselves, with a little bit of help from you.
Step 1 - Preparation
· Buy 3 seed potatoes per bag. For fast results we like to grow 'first earlies' which produce small new potatoes within around 12 weeks, but there are plenty more options. Check out this handy potato selector guide from Thompson & Morgan for more help.
· Put them on the windowsill to chit (basically sprout some more) until they have loads of sprouts coming off them.
Step 2 - Planting
· Fill a large 34cm diameter pot or potato growing bag half full with soil.
· Place your 3 chitted seed potatoes equidistant apart (kind of in a triangle), cover with a little soil and add some water to get them going.
Step 3 - Look after
You may be pleased to know that potatoes don’t take much looking after. Just position them in a sunny spot in the garden or yard and make sure they get a healthy dose of water - 1 to 2 inches of water per week.
As the foliage starts to grow, you may also want to add more soil (up to 2cm from the rim of the bag) to give the growing plants more support as well as making more room for your growing ‘taytoes’ and making sure they aren't exposed to light.
Step 4 - Harvest your potatoes
Your potatoes should be ready to harvest after about three months from planting. Harvesting is, without a doubt, the most exciting step and is when the little ones get to rummage around in the bags full of soil to find the treasure you've been growing for three months!
For harvesting your 'taytoes', come armed with the following:
· Scissors
· Trowel (little hands will do!!)
· Planter or tub (for all the excess soil)
· Bowl (for the potatoes)
· Something to put the potatoes on initially (we used paper as it was close as hand but you could use a tray or plate)
Start by using the scissors to trim the plant right back. You don’t have to do this but it’s a great skill to practise, especially for toddlers as they will enjoy the precision involved. As you can see in the picture I'm holding the plant in place so H can cut the stem. She loves using the scissors but still needs a bit of help.
Once you’ve cut the plant right back let the kids use their hands to dig around for all the potatoes. This is the super fun part and it's great to see their excitement when they find the potatoes. You might have to help remove some of the excess soil at this point but see how you go.
Learning opportunities
As always with gardening there are plenty of opportunities for further learning so follow your child’s lead and see what they notice and build on it. Here's what we did this time:
Sorting by size
H was really interested in all the different sizes, ranging from big ones (the size of your fist if you’re lucky) to really teeny tiny ones that have only just started growing (but still taste great).
Here we used 3 sheets of paper to separate the “big Grandpa ones”, the “Mummy ones” and the “baby ones”. There was quite a lot of discussion and moving potatoes between groups. To extend the learning I kept putting big ones in the small group and vice versa, which was met with giggles and shouts of “Mummy, you put it in the wrong place!” before she moved it back into its proper group.
Counting
Counting is another goodie. H started off and I helped when we got past each ten, then she carried on ‘twenty one, twenty two’ etc. On this particular harvest we got 74 in total, 45 of which were a decent new potato size or bigger, which we were pretty pleased with. That’s certainly a few family dinners and some to give to a friend.
Step 5 - Storage & cooking
New potatoes don’t store very well, so make plans to eat them within two to three days of harvest.
As with all veg you grow at home (and shop bought veg too) they need a really good wash - another toddler activity that takes time, precision and concentration - then it's time for cooking.
What will you make with yours?
Now to plant our next batch which will hopefully be ready to eat at Christmas. Join us on our Christmas Potato Challenge here.
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