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Whilst many people say "don't grow supermarket potatoes", Mark is here to prove them all wrong.
About 5 months ago Mark sowed a bunch of old supermarket potatoes that had turned green. He planted them both halved and whole. He gave the raised bed organic fertiliser and some rock dust, and watered this in well. Over the coming weeks and months they had grown well. In the weeks that Mark had been on holiday the plant has died, and has been dead for a while now before harvesting.
By at least harvesting before the Summer season in Mark's location, which is also called the wet season, Mark avoids a bunch of troubles.
- It's too hot for the potatoes to grow.
- The potatoes may rot in the ground, due to the heavy rainfall in the wet season.
- Leaving them in the ground too long can attract rodents and other critters that will start eating the potatoes.
- If they work their way up in the soil naturally, they will be exposed and start turning green.
Whilst Mark does agree that you could potentially bring diseases into your garden by using supermarket potatoes, it can be more accessible to people. He does recommend still getting true seed potatoes that are certified.
As you can tell from the harvest, there are some rotten and damaged potatoes. This is due to them being left in the garden too long. And the more shaded areas had a lot less potatoes to harvest. But all over he had a good harvest with decent-sized potatoes. Definitely worth growing those old supermarket potatoes, rather than throwing them out.
Handy tip! Want to talk to Mark directly? Did you know that there is another way, outside the forum?
Support Mark on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/selfsufficientme (the top tier enables mentoring from Mark via an exclusive VIP email where he will answer your questions etc ASAP).
About 5 months ago Mark sowed a bunch of old supermarket potatoes that had turned green. He planted them both halved and whole. He gave the raised bed organic fertiliser and some rock dust, and watered this in well. Over the coming weeks and months they had grown well. In the weeks that Mark had been on holiday the plant has died, and has been dead for a while now before harvesting.
By at least harvesting before the Summer season in Mark's location, which is also called the wet season, Mark avoids a bunch of troubles.
- It's too hot for the potatoes to grow.
- The potatoes may rot in the ground, due to the heavy rainfall in the wet season.
- Leaving them in the ground too long can attract rodents and other critters that will start eating the potatoes.
- If they work their way up in the soil naturally, they will be exposed and start turning green.
Whilst Mark does agree that you could potentially bring diseases into your garden by using supermarket potatoes, it can be more accessible to people. He does recommend still getting true seed potatoes that are certified.
As you can tell from the harvest, there are some rotten and damaged potatoes. This is due to them being left in the garden too long. And the more shaded areas had a lot less potatoes to harvest. But all over he had a good harvest with decent-sized potatoes. Definitely worth growing those old supermarket potatoes, rather than throwing them out.
Handy tip! Want to talk to Mark directly? Did you know that there is another way, outside the forum?
Support Mark on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/selfsufficientme (the top tier enables mentoring from Mark via an exclusive VIP email where he will answer your questions etc ASAP).
