I originally wrote this article in March 2020, just after ‘lockdown' had been announced in the UK. I was conscious of supply chain disruption even then and shared how you could grow potatoes without a garden.
We’re in lockdown in the UK and there’s never been a better time to learn how to grow potatoes without a garden.
For the first time in living memory, the entire UK is under house arrest in the face of “Coronavirus” – a media illusion of epic proportions.
And, if you’ve been to the supermarkets in the last week, you’ll no doubt have experienced the real life consequences of being far too dependant on a system that is already failing under it’s own weight.
Nothing to see here people; stay 2 metres apart and the shelves will always be full…
Don’t buy it.
Take this opportunity to think for yourself, prepare for the worst and plan ahead.
No matter what comes down the pipe, make sure you and your family have access to the most basic of needs – nutritious food to fill your bellies.
Potatoes offer the perfect option if you're new to growing food or you don't have a garden.
No Garden? No Problem. You Can Grow Potatoes Without a Garden In Bags
Wait, how can you grow potatoes without a garden?
Well, you can grow potatoes without a garden easily – in bags. You don't need a garden, you just need some space, a bag and some compost/soil.
Why potatoes?
Why potatoes and not all the nice stuff like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and fruit?
Because potatoes are easy to grow for beginners, can be grown without a garden, are full of essential nutritious calories that will fill your belly if you’re hungry and they store well if kept in the right conditions.
Remember, this is about filling your belly for the long term and becoming more self sufficient in food, not what you like best.
Pound for pound in weight, the amount of potatoes you can grow for the available sq footage in your garden is very high compared to other crops because potatoes can grow UPWARDS.
And the calorific value of potatoes is very high to boot.
They’re also full of vital nutrients like vitamin c, pottassium and vitamin b-6 among others. They are an essential ‘survival crop’.
The table below shows the typical values from a medium potato.
Why You Need To Plant Potatoes In A Bag Right Now
At the moment the supply chains are coping. Things are strained, but they are coping. I sincerely hope they remain so but I’ve got two children to feed and some elderly grandparents to look after.
I’m not taking the risk and you shouldn't either.
Now (February going on March in the Northern Hemisphere) is the perfect time to plant potatoes.
It is bang on the seasonal planting time (March) and they’ll be ready to harvest in 4 months’ time.
Assuming supply chains do not recover, this gives you enough time to stock up on what you can from supermarkets now whilst also preparing for the worst later.
You'll also build some excellent habits.
What Kind Of Potatoes Can You Grow In Bags?
Potatoes can be grown in bags as ‘earlies’, ‘second earlies’ or ‘main crop’ varieties.
Earlies are what you often hear called ‘new potatoes’ with earlies generally being smaller varieties that take up to 90 days to be ready for harvest and main crop (the big ones) taking up to 120-150 days to harvest.
Back in the good old days of abundance, earlies or new potatoes would make delicious salad potatoes and you’d use your main crop potatoes as jackets, roasties, mash or chips.
Now that we’re thinking about nutritional value rather than taste or style, we want maximum calorific value per plant/space, so you’ll want to grow main crop. I will be.
Different Types Of Potatoes
Usually, you’d buy ‘seed potatoes’ from gardening centres, seed vendors or supermarkets at about this time of year.
If you’re lucky and you’ve read this article quick enough, you might be able to pick up a few bags of seed potatoes on your next supermarket trip or find some online.
Seed potatoes come in different varieties; as earlies, second earlies or main crop.
What Are Seed Potatoes?
Seed potatoes are basically last years potatoes that have been left to go ‘to seed’, which means they have been stored at an appropriate temperature over the winter and as things have started to warm up they’ve been let out and left to develop shoots.
Seed potatoes come in different varieties that are more suitable as earlies, second earlies or main crop.
What If I Don’t Have Any Seed Potatoes Or Can’t Find Any Online?
Don’t worry. I’ve successfully grown potatoes from supermarket bought potatoes that have been left in the vegetable drawer a bit too long.
You know the ones I mean; they grow white roots out of them that you snap off. They will start to grow these when the potato warms up as the temperature warms up outside.
Make Your Own Seed Potatoes
You can make your own seed potatoes by:
- Buying some shop-bought potatoes and leaving them in a warm, dry drawer for a couple of weeks.
- As soon as you see shoots developing on them, take them out and place them in an empty egg carton with the shoots pointing upwards in a position with light but not direct sunlight.
- Leave them in the carton for a further couple of weeks until the shoot gets thick and green.
Extra Boost: If you want to give them an extra boost and you’re lucky enough to be able to nip to the seaside for your 30 minutes of exercise without being fined by police for leaving your home, you could pick up some seaweed to make some seaweed fertiliser to spray them with.
How To Plant Potatoes In Bags In The UK Climate
To plant potatoes in bags in the UK, you’re going to need:
- Some bags with holes in the bottom
- Some soil
- Some seed potatoes.
Simply pour 3 or 4 inches of soil into the bottom of your bag and place 2 or 3 seed potatoes directly into it about an inch and a half deep with the shoots pointing upwards.
The potatoes should be 4 inches apart and make sure to snap off all shoots except the strongest looking one so that the potato puts all of its energy into developing that shoot once planted.
Once you’ve placed your seed potatoes, cover them up with another 3 inches of soil. You should have bags that are a little over a quarter full.
As soon as they’re covered up nicely, you can give them a soaking with water. Not so much that they’re drowned but enough to have dampened all the soil well.
You Don’t Need Special ‘Potato’ Bags
You don’t need to go out and buy (or find, as may be the case these days!) some specialist potato bags. Some plastic shopping bags will do – the kind that has the hard-weathered plastic like the ones above.
Just make sure you cut some holes in the bottom to let the water drain out!
If you don't want the hassle, I have some potato grow bags in the supply store you can buy to make the job easier to get started.
How To Make Sure Your Potatoes In Bags Grow Well And Reap A Massive Harvest
Potatoes, whether planted in bags or not, need to be well looked after. Here’s a few essential tips to make sure they grow strong, healthy, delicious and plentiful.
- They’re not good when weeds creep in to steal their space. In the early days, make sure you keep an eye on the bags for any weeds that might be trying to jostle for position and quickly pull them out.
- Keep the potatoes well watered but not soaked to the bone. Potatoes are relatively hardy plants but they will dry out quickly if you leave them too long. Especially if you’re planting in bags in backyard that is in direct sunlight.
- If you’re planting now (in March) cover them at night with some frost netting (or a fleece blanket) until you are sure that the frosts have past. Frost can kill the plants or seriously stunt their growth.
- Top up the soil as the plant grows taller. To make sure you get the best harvest in the bag, you need to keep filling the bag up with soil as the plant grows taller.
- Wait until the shoot gets about 6 inches high above the soil and develops leaves.
- Once leaves have developed and the plant is 6 inches above the soil, top up the soil to half the height of the shoot (so 3 inches.).
- Repeat this process every time the stem gets 6 inches above the soil until you’ve filled up the bag.
How Long Does It Take To Grow Potatoes Without A Garden?
Potatoes require a relatively long growing season. Even the early varieties require a good 90 days and the main crop varieties, the ones you should be growing during Covid-19, require even longer – at 120-150 days.
You will know when they are ready to harvest because the plants will start to flower. You can safely leave them in the bag beyond this point and I would encourage you to do so and harvest them only when you intend to eat them.
They will stay fresh in the bag until that time and will be good until January/Feb.
How To Store Potatoes?
I’ll be storing my potatoes in the bags or the ground that they are grown in until I need to eat them but perhaps the best way to store them is to dig them up once they're ready and store them for the long haul.
I wrote a full guide on the best way to store potatoes for months after you buy them from the supermarket and method two in that guide can be applied to potatoes you grow without a garden.
In summary, here's how:
- Dig them out on a dry day and leave them out on the grass/yard/soil for an extra day to thoroughly dry out (cure).
- Remove any potatoes that are damaged (bruised, cut, scraped, pest damage etc.) and put them to one side. You'll need to eat those first because they won't store.
- Once dried, get a cardboard box and make some ventilation holes around the box.
- Line the box with straw and brown paper
- Place the potatoes a couple of inches apart directly onto the paper in one layer
- Once the layer is complete, add more straw on top of the potatoes and another layer of brown paper then repeat the process above
- Do this until your box is full (make sure you have plenty of airflow!)
- Store the box with the lid closed in a dry, cool garage or shed
A great article over on Insteading about potato storage advises that you should keep temperatures between 45 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit (6 and 10 degrees Celsius) with the humidity level between 90 and 95 percent. In these conditions, your potatoes have the potential to last months at a time.
This should keep your potatoes good until you need them providing no blight, dampness or disease is present on any of the crop when you store it.
If any disease or dampness is present, the potatoes will likely go bad so make sure they are completely dry and look disease free when you store them.
How Many Potato Bags Will You Need To Feed Your Family?
The straight answer is it depends on how many potatoes you eat and what else you have in your diet.
However, given that we are preparing to plant for a worst case scenario where potatoes will make the lion’s share of your family’s food, you’re going to need to plant around 50 potato plants.
That’s 50 bags of potatoes! This will provide you with enough potatoes to have 4 potato-based meals a week for 6 months.
This figure is based on needing 2lbs of potatoes to feed 4 people. 2 lbs of potatoes is approx. 6 medium sized potatoes.
In a full potato bag, you can expect to reap anywhere between 7-10lbs of potatoes.
And that's it, you now know everything you need to know to grow potatoes without a garden.
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That is a very informative article and answer lots of questions I had, thank you. I just have one question….should we only plant one seed potato per bag?
Hello, Jen,
Thanks! Glad it helped.
As for your question, it depends how big your bag is!
Each potato needs about 6 inches between itself and the next one.
If it’s one of the potato bags that I supply, you can plant 2 potatoes per bag in them.
Such great advice and information, thank you. May be a silly question but is it possible to make seed potatoes from any variety?
Hi Marianne,
Yes, I’ve made seed potatoes from store-bought potatoes regularly.
They tend to do it themselves as they sit in the drawer!
Once they start developing shoots, you can take them out of the drawer and give them some light and the shoots will turn dark green.
You can then plant them and they will grow more potatoes.