Growing potatoes: tips from our winning growers

Potato flowers

Today was the big 'weigh-in' for our Great Potato Competition. Last year our Dig It! volunteers, and those of the Liston Village Community Garden, were each given a bucket (with holes drilled into it for drainage) and an Agria potato and told to go forth and create more potatoes (in the bucket). We all duly filled our buckets with compost,  made sure they were regularly watered and we looked after the potato plants as best we could. Today, three months later, we had the great unveiling - or unbucketing - of our potatoes.
The winner of the day had grown over 600 grams of potatoes in the bucket, and the smallest amount grown was a very slim 150g of potato. There were exciting moments as each of the 15 buckets were emptied. Results varied greatly, but our winners had a few tips up their green sleeves...

Potato plants at the end of the season, in their buckets    

Here are tips from the winning growers:

• feed your potatoes with sheep pellets
• keep your potatoes in a warm, sheltered spot
• don't over-water your potatoes
• potentially try to grow your potatoes earlier in the year (start them in September) to avoid pests and diseases
• feed your potatoes with worm tea and worm castings

We had a lot of fun with the Liston Village Community Garden, and we will be running this fun event again in September 2014. 

If you are keen to join in with this fun competition, we'd love you to be a part of it - all ages welcome! Simply leave a comment on this blog post or email me for details: julia.watson@ccsdisabilityaction.org.nz.

Richard (our esteemed judge) unveiling the potatoes

The winner gets a well-deserved hug

Some members of our wonderful potato-growing group