Monday 2nd February 2009
Spuds are one of the easiest and most rewarding vegetables to grow and you don't need acres of space, or even a garden to get a perfect crop.
With Marshalls gro-sack you can create a mouth-watering harvest on a patio, balcony or even roof garden. Not only that, dedicated spud lovers can grow the earliest potatoes possible.
The gro-sack's easy-grip carry handles means, unlike potato barrels, you can move it wherever you want – freeing space in the greenhouse just when you need it. And its specially-designed drainage holes ensures the soil doesn't become waterlogged.
6 steps to the easiest potato ever:
- Chitting will get your potato tubers off to the quickest start
- Find the end with the most sprouts forming (called the rose end), this needs to be exposed to the light to promote growth.
- Stand the tubers upright in an egg box with the rose end skyward. Keep them in a light frost-free place to let the shoots develop.
- When shoots are up to cm plant three in the gro-sack in a layer of 10-15cm (4-6in) of soil-based compost, burying them completely.
- As the tubers start to grow keep burying them adding another 10-15cm (4-6in) of soil until the gro-sack is full to within a couple of inches of the brim.
- When the gro-sack is full the tubers will start to leaf up. As soon as the leaves have flowered the potatoes are ready to eat.
Gro-sacks come in packs of three, complete with 15 top-quality seed potatoes. For a gourmet crop, try a taster kit of three gro-sacks with 5 tubers each of Charlotte, Swift and Maris Peer – all for £14.95.
