by Lisa Giroday, Sandra Lopuch and Sam Philips | Last August, we wrote an article on harvesting potatoes. This is a friendly reminder: the time has come to plant these little nuggets! Whether your goal is complete self-sufficiency or just planting a few containers, get out there and grow!

There is a common perception that one needs space to grow these tubers. However, potatoes can grow in containers if you’re short on space. Potatoes can even grow in a deep bag or garbage can filled with soil! Potatoes, or Solanum tuberosum, belong to the Solanaceae or “nightshade” family, along with tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and tomatillos. There are so many awesome early, mid, and late season cultivars to choose from, and, if you have never seen the beauty that is a potato flower, you’re seriously missing out.

A few requirements for growing potatoes:

– Make sure your desired space gets about 6 hours of direct sun per day.
– Make sure the soil is loose and has good drainage.
– Add a couple of inches of compost to your soil – potatoes are heavy feeders.
– Use certified seed potatoes to avoid diseases like blight. These tubers are selected for their overall health.
– Once plants are approximately 1ft tall, mulch the bed with a 6-8” layer of straw, or hill up the soil.
– And finally, make sure to rotate your potato crop each year (to avoid pests and diseases).

Our absolute favourite potato to grow is the Banana Fingerling – a Russian heirloom late season potato with waxy yellow skin and yellow flesh, with the best flavor ever – perfect for summer potato salads! If purchasing Banana Fingerling potato seed from Westcoast Seeds, the potato seed is grown here on our coast, so you know they are ideal for our climate.

Some companion plants for potatoes are marigold, onions, cilantro, and beans. As always, if you need a hand with planting, you know who to call!

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Victory Gardens is a team of local urban farmers for hire. Lisa, Sandra and Sam help transform tired or underused residential and commercial green spaces into food producing gardens. Their goal is to challenge the way communities use space and to participate in the change needed to consume food more sustainably. For the rest of the growing season, they’ve hooked up with Scout to share some cool tips and tricks on how to get the best from of our own backyards.