Grow Your Own Potatoes project - Other ways to make the most of GYOP
That's a shame, CMers no longer eligible. Only for schools KS1 and KS2 for 2016.
Printable View
Grow Your Own Potatoes project - Other ways to make the most of GYOP
That's a shame, CMers no longer eligible. Only for schools KS1 and KS2 for 2016.
oh no! That is a shame.
It's a shame, but I can understand how expensive it must get when they have so many small settings joining in.
I got an email about this yesterday, such a shame :-(
that is a shame - we've enjoyed our potatoes.
i'll still plant potatoes ... as long as someone reminds me when !!!! :D
Haha. Me too. When shall we start chitting?Quote:
Originally Posted by loocyloo
What a shame. I must have got very expensive, at least it got lots of us interested and we can buy them and carry on with what is a great activity for everyone.
Saddening.
Here's the DIY solution:
Download the resource materials from the GYOP website.
Buy and make your own kit around January/February 2016 (you can start early if you can begin them in a greenhouse, otherwise wait until frosts are less likely (March-ish, but depends where you are in the UK.)
Buy 'first early' seed potatoes for preference. Best to get a variety with less top-growth, which means your bags will be easier to water and less top-heavy, so therefore less likely to topple over. (Gravity is a bu88er, and I wish Sir Isaac Newton had never invented it.) My personal favourite is 'Swift' but '|Rocket' is also good: both of these are widely available.
If you know a local family seed merchant or garden market stall or similar who sells by weight, you can probably buy a small handful of tubers. Otherwise you're stuck with the garden-centre pre-packs which are generally too big, but you could share with chums. If you're reading this Simona, then Percy Chapman's under the railway arches by the green are excellent. :thumbsup:
Buy a bag of compost. Put all the compost in a big container where it can stay dry. Turn the bag inside out. That is now your potato-growing bag, complete with black outer surface which will attract the sun's warming rays. Put about 6 inches of compost back in the bag, ad a few tubers, cover with compost and water, not forgetting to punch a few holes in the base of the bag for drainage (use a pointy pencil). roll the sides of the bag down to help it get some light. As the green shoots grow, keep adding compost to almost-but-not-quite cover them, and keep unrolling the sides, until the bag is almost full or is in danger of falling over. You will need to lean it somewhere: preferably a sunny wall.
Harvest anything upward of 10 weeks after planting. So bags started in late February can be ready from late May. I like to move them under cover for a week before harvesting, to let the compost dry out a tad and not have to stick my hands in cloying wet compost, especially if there's a lot of rain about. Rummaging is a good way to hand-pick them and fun for the children. If there's any worry of ants having taken up residence, then tip the whole bag out onto a big plastic sheet or tarp and wait 10 minutes for the little blighters to scurry off first (the ants - not the children.)
Fantastic. Thank you 😊Quote:
Originally Posted by bunyip