no garden? You can also plant potatoes on the balcony. We’ll tell you how to do it!
Potatoes for the balcony – the preparation
If you want to grow potatoes on your balcony, success starts with the preparation. It is best to use ripe potatoes for planting. It’s best to buy seed or seed potatoes from a gardening store. For planting on the balcony, let them pre-germinate in a box in a dark, cool place. This can already be done in March and takes about four weeks.
The right location is important. Potatoes like it warm and light. But make sure that they are not directly in the midday sun. Use vegetable soil or regular garden soil that you have mixed with some compost for the potatoes. So your plants have enough nutrients. Your potatoes also need enough water and space: Potatoes want to spread and always need a lot of water. The soil should not dry out.
Plant bag, bucket or tub: you need that
If you have prepared everything and the sprouted potatoes are ready, you can almost start. But first you have to decide whether you prefer to work with plant bags, buckets or tubs:
Plant sacks: You can buy special plant sacks in specialist shops, but you can also use plastic sacks made from strong PVC fabric. Even rice or jute sacks are suitable for planting potatoes.
Buckets: Buckets or closed tubs are also suitable as long as they are large enough. In order for you to be able to harvest enough potatoes, your container should definitely have a volume of ten liters and a height of about 40 centimeters.
Pots: As with the plant bags, you can also get plant pots from a gardening store. Here you need dark-walled plastic buckets that are as high as possible so that the soil is warmed up well by the sun’s rays.
It is important, no matter which planter you choose in the end, that you ensure sufficient drainage. Potatoes do not tolerate waterlogging, which is why an additional drainage layer made of gravel is worthwhile. For drainage, you can equip your planters with a hole or some slits before filling. Then the water can drain well.
Growing potatoes on the balcony: Here’s how
With the right equipment, you can now plant your own potatoes step by step:
First fill the drainage layer in your planter (think of suitable holes or slots beforehand).
Now you fill in a 15 centimeter high layer of soil that has been enriched with sufficient nutrients.
Now you can spread the seed potatoes evenly over the soil. About four potatoes per pot. Fill in enough soil to just cover the tubers.
Keep everything moist.
After about 14 days, the potatoes are already 15 centimeters high. If the plants have reached a height of 30 centimeters, you can refill 15 centimeters of soil. After that, you can add soil twice more at intervals of 10 to 14 days. This will cause your plants to form more tubers and new shoots further up the shoots.
After about three to four months, the first potatoes are ready to be harvested. At the latest when you watch the leaves of the plants wither, it is time to harvest. Potatoes can usually be harvested from May to October, depending on when and how they were planted. Simply empty your planter. Then you can enjoy your first own balcony potatoes.
