AIKB is launching a new and pretty unusual competition : growing a potato in a bag. Thank you to Maggie C. from Gouarec for having such a good idea, which, we hope, will encourage Members to take part.
The results of this competition will be given on August 21st on the day of the AIKB Garden Visit in Gouarec, at Maggie’s. The prize for the winner hasn’t been decided yet but we still have plenty of time to find a well deserved award.
The instructions are shown below. In order to have the biggest potato, Members are invited to start the preparation as from now. So find a suitable bag, select the potato you deem the most promising and get started. And may the best potato win !
1. Lay your potatoes in cool, bright, frost free position to chit. Allow approximately 4 weeks for the chit (called the rose end) to be 2 cm in length. Choose the ONE potato you deem to be the most suitable.
2. Any strong bag which excludes light will be suitable. Make sure that there are drainage holes.
3. Fill an 8 litre bag with quality multipurpose compost to about 2.5cm below the rim.
4. Carefully place ONE chitted potato into the compost with the ‘rose end’ pointing upwards, to a depth of 12cm from the surface. Cover with compost.
5. Place the potato bag in a bright, frost free position, water regularly, and wait for your potatoes to grow.
6. Feed potato plant every other week with potato fertiliser and water the bag when the compost shows signs of drying out.
You can bring along the whole bag with the potatoes still inside to be tipped out and weighed on site. Or alternatively, you could tip them out before arriving and, bring the harvested crop along to be weighed. We will rely on your honesty! This is just for fun!