How do I grow potatoes and can I grow them from the ones you buy in a store?

POTATOES can be cooked in many ways: baked potatoes, mash, fries, jacket potatoes, potatoe salad, you name it.

You can grow this vegetable in your home too, and while you'll be saving money, it's also nice to enjoy a day planting in your garden.

How do I grow potatoes?

There are several ways to grow potatoes.

We will teach you two ways how to do so, one is described as the easiest and the other as the cheapest.

The cheapest way is the following:

• Prepare the soil by removing any weeds and going over it to make a smooth surface for you to work on.
• Dig straight and shallow trenches two to three feet apart and plant the potatoes 12 inches apart.
• Cover at least three inches with soil.
• Once the shoots are 10 to 12 inches tall, use a shovel or a hoe to remove the soil from between the rows and mound it against the plays. This will bury the stems halfway.
• Repeat throughout the season to make sure that the tubers are covered.

This is the cheapest way because you do not need to buy anything, you just simply need to have the land and soil.

Of course, your crops will also depend on the quality of the soil that you have.

In places where the soil is dirtier, you might want to reconsider your option.

You can try the easiest way which is by using grow bags.

These bags are made from heavy and dense polypropylene to ensure the best results.

What you have to do is:

• Put some soil-compost mixture in the bottom of the bag and plant three or four seed potato pieces.
• Then cover the seeds with three inches of soil.
• Keep adding soil while the plants are growing until the bag is eventually full.
• To harvest just turn the bag on its side and dump out the crops.

These bags are long-lasting so they will make your money's worth.

They are easy to store and because of their dark colour, they help the seed to have a speedy and early growth thanks to the heat captures.

They also do not take much space while planting.

What’s the best way to plant them?

It is always best to plant potatoes 12 inches apart and three inches deep under the soil.

The distance between seeds will ensure that the potatoes have space to grow and they do not steal each other's nutrients, ensuring that your grown crops are healthy and of the best quality.

They also need to be deep under the soil because of the heat.

The more heat potatoes absorb, the faster they will grow.

How long does it take to grow potatoes?

It depends on how much you want potatoes to grow.

If you want small new potatoes, they will take about ten weeks at least to grow.

On the other hand, if you want full-sized grown potatoes, then it will take about 80 to 100 days for the potatoes to fully mature.

It also depends on what planting technique you are using and the environment that you are planting in.

Remember that the soil affects the growth too, so if you have poor quality soil, it might take longer or they might not be as good as expected.

Can you grow potatoes from store-bought potatoes?

Yes, you can.

If you have potatoes that are starting to sprout, you can use them to produce some healthy crops.

So don't think about throwing them away, instead use them to make some new potatoes which are safe to eat.

The only downside about store-bought potatoes is that, unlike seed potatoes, they are not certified free of disease.

Potatoes from stores might have been filled with pathogens such as light and fusarium.

These might damage your soil, and then affect any other crops which you also might be growing.

It'll end up costing you a lot to replace the soil with a healthy one too.