A Word About Potato Bags

The excellent Gardener’s Supply Company in Burlington VT got me hook, line and sinker with an e-mail they sent earlier this year extolling the benefits of their potato bags.  I’d never grown potatoes, but knowing that much of the northern half of this state is dedicated to growing them, I put two and two together and that seemed to = me growing some taters on my deck.  I bought a couple of bags, some Prairie Blush seed potatoes from Wood Prairie Farm, read the instructions that came with the bag, and …

Potatoes, Bagged

So far, so good.  No pests and solid, continuous growth.  The process: on May 25, I filled the bag 1/3 full with soil, cut my seed potatoes into chunks with 2-3 eye sprouts per chunk, then buried them.  A week later, I had some leaf growth, so I buried that with more soil to 2/3 full to where only a few leaves were showing.  Another week or so later, more leaf growth that was buried to near the top of the bag.  Now I’m waiting for the payoff in … September, from what I’ve been told.  I wait for the foliage to turn yellow and die off, which is my signal to dig around with my hands and see what’s in there.