HOW TO USE BURLAP BAGS TO GROW POTATOES

You can plant potatoes above ground! That's right, using container gardening you can grow potatoesand not have to have a garden. This is great for people with a small amount of space, i.e. if you live in an apartment or house with little to no yard space.

There are many types of container gardening, but you can actually use burlap bags to grow potatoes. A few days after St. Patrick's day is a good time to plant potatoes - you want to soil to be wrokable but not too wet. However, with a burlap bag, you can control the level of wetness.

Types of potatoes to grow

Anything will work for the most part, but buying organic means it won't be treated with bud-inhibitors. You can also buy seed potatoes from local garden stores. You can also use potatoes from your kitchen as well, but you should cut them into smaller pieces. Each piece should have at least one eye.

Then you'll want to cure each of the pieces by putting them in a dark, warm room and let them sit for a couple of days, that way the cut sides can become calloused.

You can also "chit" the potatoes. Put them in an egg carton and put them in a warm, sunny location for a couple of days. Chitting means letting the potato buds sprout indoors before planting them outside - this gives them a little bit of a head start.

How To Use Burlap Bags As Containers

Potatoes aren't that picky about where to grow, although they do prefer rich soil that isn't too wet and cooler weather. You can grow them anywhere: in a raised garden bed, a trench, garbage cans, and yes, burlap bags.

To grow them in burlap bags, just roll the bag down to about 10". Fill it with compost and potting soil to roughly 6" in height. Put about 3 potatoes in each burlap bag with the sprouted eye face up. Cover these with about 2 inches of soil and compost and water it well.

When they're about 6"-8" tall, roll up the burlap bag further and fill in with more compost and soil to about 4". Continue this method until the plant begins to flower. You'll know it's time for harvest when the potato vines start to wither and die off.

You should have some tasty, home-grown potatoes in no time! They'll be tons better than store bought ones. And if you like to grow plants like this, you can use burlap bags for many different types of container gardening.