Potatoes can be grown in beds in your own garden and even in pots on the balcony with little effort. We'll tell you how to do it.
Statistically speaking, every German eats around 60 kilograms of potatoes per year. There are almost 4,000 potato varieties worldwide. Almost 200 of them are grown in Germany. You know Sieglinde, Christa or Agria by name. Potatoes are easy to grow yourself, not only in large fields, but also in a small space. What needs to be considered when planting potatoes is revealed below.
Select the right type
Based on the abundance of different types of potatoes, a targeted selection should first be made. The trade offers special seed potatoes. Regular potatoes from the supermarket can also be used. However, the yields threaten to be rather low, because germ-inhibiting agents are often used in commercial cultivation.
Potatoes can be selected by the following criteria:
- Harvest Time
- Cooking behavior
- Storage life
| criterion | Types |
|---|---|
| early harvest time | • Adretta • Anabella • Belana • Christa • Gala • Gloria • Sieglinde |
| late harvest time | • Atlanta • Bamberger Hörnchen • Granola • Laura • Panda |
| boiling | • Anabella • Bamberger Hörnchen • Belana • Cilena • Linda • Sieglinde |
| floury cooking | • Agria • Melina • Victoria • Laura • Rosara • Christa |
| good shelf life | • Adretta • Agria • Atlanta • Belana • Granola • Laura • Panda • Victoria |
Find a suitable location
A sunny location is ideal for growing potatoes. However, potatoes should only be grown in one and the same location every four years. This helps prevent the spread of diseases and nematodes.
Tip: Lettuce and French beans are good follow-up cropsor kohlrabi.
Close proximity should be avoided when cultivating potatoes and tomatoes. Tomatoes are often attacked by brown rot. The causative agent of late blight occurring in potatoes is identical. The fungal disease first affects the foliage of the potato, and the wind transfers the spores to tomatoes planted nearby.
Reading tip: Potato diseases - recognizing and fighting
Select and prepare substrate
Potatoes do well in all soils. However, a barren location will provide correspondingly lower yields. The substrate should be deep and not waterlogged. Enrichment with compost or manure upgrades the soil.
Prepare the ground
The soil is first loosened to a depth of about 30 centimetres. Stones, weeds and root remains must be removed. A sandy soil is ideal for growing potatoes. Heavy loamy soil tends to become waterlogged and must be prepared before planting.
This can be done by incorporating sand or compost. A preculture with deep-rooted vegetables, such as radishes, is also a good idea. The incorporation of compost should be done in early spring. If compost is not put into the soil until planting, over-fertilization can occur. This weakens the plants and reduces the taste and shelf life of the harvest.
Note planting time
The first potatoes can already be planted in early April. The hobby gardener opts for early varieties that have already been pre-germinated. Planting can begin when the soil temperature is ten degrees. Pre-germinated tubers can also tolerate temperatures of around seven degrees. If you keep to this early planting time, you can harvest as early as July.
Pre-sprout potatoes
Early potatoes can be pre-germinated from the end of February. This promotes growth, makes the potatoes less susceptible to diseases and ensures high yields. Pre-sprouted potatoes will also grow in cool temperatures and reach maturity before late blight sets in. In general, the yield can be increased by about 20 percent.
This requires a box filled with potting soil. Alternatively, a cardboard egg carton can be used. The tubers should be half covered with substrate. The planter is placed at temperatures of about 15 degrees. It is important that plenty of light reaches the bulbs.After about six weeks, the pre-germinated potatoes can be planted out in the bed.
What is needed for planting potatoes?
- Seed Potatoes
- Fork
- hoe
- Shovel
- Calculate
- bucket
- cord
- Wheelbarrow
- Watering Can
Planting Instructions
1. Determine the location2. Prepare the ground
3. Level the ground
4. Tighten the planting cord
5. Create the planting gutter
6. Note the planting distance7. Plant potatoes
8. Press potatoes slightly into the substrate
9. Close planting trenches
10. Wait for germination
11. Keep plants moist
12. Pile up potatoes
The soil is first dug up deeply and should be loose and moist when planting. Stretching a planting cord makes it easier to create the bed. A 20 to 30 centimeter deep planting groove is drawn with the hoe. If the soil has not already been fertilized, compost, horn shavings or horn meal can be mixed in.
The potatoes are now inserted and lightly pressed into the ground. A minimum distance of 30 centimeters between the tubers must be observed. There should be a distance of at least 50 centimeters between the rows. The planting trenches are closed with the rake.
The first leaves appear after about five weeks. The hobby gardener now begins to pile up the potatoes. Earth is poured in at intervals of one to two weeks. The tubers then form new roots instead of leaf axils and thus also new potatoes. After heaping up the substrate, a layer of earth about 40 centimeters high was created. This is infused with potatoes. The potatoes can be harvested after three to four months.
Planting potatoes in pots
Potato cultivation can also take place in a small space. It can be cultivated in buckets and tubs on the balcony or terrace. The vessels are first filled with a layer of expanded clay or gravel.
Tip: The planter must have holes in the bottom so that the water can drain off easily.
A layer of earth about 15 centimeters high is filled over the drainage. Then the tubers are inserted. Three to four potatoes can be planted in a medium-sized planter.
The seed potatoes are watered regularly and sprout quickly. When the shoots have reached a length of about ten centimetres, earth is filled up again. Only the tips of the leaves should remain visible. This process is repeated until the bucketor bucket is completely filled with soil.
Planting potatoes in raised beds
Small gardens usually do not allow for the creation of potato beds. The hobby gardener does not have to do without home-grown potatoes if he uses the raised bed. The potatoes are used as described and cultivated according to the layer principle explained.
The varieties Golden Wonder, La Ratte or Rosa Tannenspitzen are particularly suitable for cultivation in raised beds. The home-grown potatoes can be harvested after about 100 days.