The Saxons call them Ärbern or Ährborn. The people of Brandenburg call her Knulle and the people of Palatinate call her Grumbeere. What is always meant is the potato. The crop, also known as the potato, is ideal for growing in the garden or in a container.
How can you grow potatoes yourself?
Growing potatoes in your own garden or container is easy: dig up the bed, fertilize, draw rows, sow seeds and pile them up. The harvest offers organic quality, a large variety of varieties and a long harvest season from June to October.
Growing your own potatoes is easy
There is room for a small or large potato bed in every garden. The effort involved in planting potatoes is not too great: digging the bed, fertilizing, drawing rows, sowing and piling up are easy to manage. If the harvest turns out to be bountiful, every gardener will be proud.
Organic quality from our own garden
Home-grown potatoes are of organic quality. Especially if they are only supplied with organic fertilizer (horn shavings) and manure. Supermarket potatoes, on the other hand, are often treated to suppress germ formation.
Limited selection of varieties in the supermarket
The range of potato varieties in the supermarket is limited. Usually you only have the choice between floury, predominantly waxy and waxy potatoes. Yellow-skinned varieties are most commonly available here, red-skinned potatoes only in small quantities. A more diverse range can be found at markets and from small producers.
Determine the variety yourself
When growing your own potatoes, everyone decides for themselves which type of potato they grow. It is selected based on taste, color, ripening time and storage ability. If you have had good experiences with a potato variety, you will continue to grow it in subsequent years. Maybe one of the old and rare varieties such as Ackersegen and Bamberger Hörnchen or the exclusive Blue Sweden.
Cheap seeds
Seed potatoes cost around 1 to 3 euros per kilogram. Yields of 10 times that amount are realistic, always depending on the growing conditions.
Seed potatoes from your own harvest are practically free. They are put aside for the next year after the harvest.
Potatoes have long been suitable for balconies
Potato plants have long since found their way onto balconies and roof terraces. In a sunny spot they thrive in almost any container.
It couldn’t be fresher
After the harvest, straight to the table - this is only possible with your own potatoes. New potatoes are a special treat for the palate. They contain fresh vitamins and are popular as jacket potatoes because of their thin skin.
Cheap new potatoes
The first new potatoes are long awaited and therefore all the more expensive in the supermarket. The cheaper alternative is home-grown new potatoes. A potato plant in a bucket of water on the balcony is enough for a taste experience.
Long harvest season
You can take advantage of the different degrees of ripeness of the tubers for home cultivation. If you grow early, mid-early and late varieties side by side, you can benefit from the long harvest season from June to October.
Stockkeeping
Once harvested and stored properly, the supply of potatoes will last for a few weeks or months, depending on the harvest quantity. The prerequisite for this is a dry, cool and dark place.
Purchased potatoes, on the other hand, only have a limited shelf life. Especially when stored in the apartment, potatoes quickly shrivel and develop germs.
Gardening with children
Gardening is great fun for children. You can make your own potatoes e.g. in a bucket of water, plant and water and, if necessary, hunt for Colorado potato beetles. The excitement of the harvest results is free.
Tips & Tricks
One of the most expensive potatoes in the world is “La Bonnotte”, which is grown on the French Atlantic island of Noirmoutier. The secret of their taste is seaweed and sea water. The secret of their price is low cultivation quantities and short supply times. Gourmets pay up to 500 euros per kilogram.