Use those old sprouting potatoes in the bottom of the bag!
When old potatoes start sprouting, and they’re too far gone to even be making mash with, it’s time to think about using them to grow a whole load more.
They are amazingly easy to regrow and a single potato can yield several kilos of fresh, wholesome potato in a few weeks. Potatoes are a staple of our diet precisely because they grow quickly and easily.
Why should I do this?
There are several good reasons in fact:
- it reduces your food waste
- it produces completely free food
- fresh produce from your garden has NO food miles / carbon emissions
- fresh produce from your garden uses NO plastic packaging
- fresh food from your garden always tastes better!
- kids especially get a kick out of preparing and eating food grown at home
- kids learn about gardening, food production, plants and nature
What you need
- old sprouting potatoes
- a trowel
- a patch of garden soil bed
- lollipop sticks or similar
- er … that’s all!
No chemical pesticides or fertilizers please!
What to do
- take small sprouting potatoes and bury under a couple of inches of wet soil in a sunny area of your garden
- take larger sprouting potatoes and cut in half or quarters before planting in the same way
- mark with a lollipop stick so you know where they are until they sprout above ground
- keep watered especially in warm weather
- when the plants come up, heap up the soil around them from time to time to create a potato mound
- harvest in about 18 weeks by lifting or carefully digging out your crop of lovely potatoes
That’s it .. it really is that easy
Take action
Please don’t throw away those sprouting potatoes, they are potentially a source of several kilos of fresh free food, all you need to add is a little bit of garden space, water, and patience. You will learn, save money, and reduce your carbon and plastics footprints. What’s not to like.
Enjoy the benefits of your green-fingered action.
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