14 Comments

  1. We are planting them for the first time this year. My girls and I are experimenting: a few in pots where we keep piling soil onto the plant, and a few in a trench. We do find Jerusalem artichokes popping up everywhere, but that is a ative in my region.

    • @Frank: Sounds good. I just planted some Jerusalem artichokes, so hopefully I’ll be eating them by the end of summer! I love low-maintenance crops like these :-).

  2. Hey Darren, what good workers you have. And yummy spuds too…..I still have some growing in a nice tall mound……and still have seed to plant..I just need to make more room..lol.

    • @nellymary: They can be good workers, if you can find the right motivation :-). I’ve got another bag of spuds going to seed in the cupboard, so I’ll be planting those ones out soon (and eating the lovely fresh ones!).

  3. Mandy

    I thought growing potatoes sounded like too much hard work – sourcing virus free tubers and then all that digging. I threw some sprouted potatoes into my compost heap to get rid of them, and when I went to pull out an unfamiliar plant – attached to it were 5 small new potatoes. I’m going to try this lazy method again, and maybe use lawn clippings to mound up around the plants as they grow.

    • @Mandy: I just planted some more today – again, they were bought ones that sprouted in the cupboard. This time I lined the trenches with torn up comfrey leaves before backfilling, as I’d heard that they really help potatoes get off to a good start. I’ll see how it goes!

    • @Ali: Go for it! We’ve just put in another bed, and the plants are just starting to peep out through the soil. We’ve only got a kilo or so left from the last batch now.

  4. Julie

    Tickle me tattoes…that’s what I and my husband do…there are only 2 of us (and a cat) so when I need potatoes I burrow down with my hands under the plant and just get a few for tea.

    I also grow kumura (sweet potato) so easy too. Just watch out though because they can take over the vegetable patch.

    I tried growing Jerusalum artichoke without success…umm

    • @Julie: We do that a bit too – we call it “bandicooting”. I’ve got a fair bit of sweet potato growing now – it’s a good ground cover in bits of the garden that you’re not really using. They’re very productive! I’ve got some Jerusalem artichokes growing again this year. I had them at our old house, but they didn’t survive being transplanted here. They seem to be doing well, so hopefully I’ll be able to get a permanent patch established. They’re pretty good for mulch, as well as the tubers.

  5. oh you have such lovely girls! that’s such a cute post, I’ve never dug potatoes myself, got no experience to share, but one day if i can, I would love to! back home in singapore where we had a back garden, we planted sweet potatoes, though it was for their leaves (tastes like spinach but better imo).

    • @Shuhan: Thanks! They can be cute when they want to :-). We’ve got lots of sweet potatoes growing as well – we eat the tubers, but while I know the leaves are edible we’ve never tried them. I’ll have to give it a go next time I do a stir fry!

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