POT GROWING EASY HARVEST POTATOES - added bonus water saving tip.

A GREAT WAY TO GET STARTED
getting started can be the hardest part to anything so here's a great way with low cost and it's almost set it and forget it.
Everyone can grow their own food even in limited space and here's a very easy low maintenance way to get started for people who don't have much room or time to take care of their gardens.

First up heres how we make the pot for easy harvest and low maintenance watering. You will need two pots the same size to make this work. One will sit inside the other when we are finished. I'll call these the insert pots and the second the outer pots.

Step 1;) The inner pot we cut the side out of the first insert pot as shown above. That will be the pot that sits inside the second outer pot that for water saving purposes we will also modify slightly.
I like to cut insert pots into three large cutouts like a peace sign because I have big hands. Four holes will give you more support when lifting the pots out to harvest and they will last longer. You can see these pots have been used for this already, they are starting to deteriorate and crack around the bottom. I might be making new inserts next season. I also drill a few holes in the bottom to allow the roots better access to the water.

ADDED BONUS TIP here. Great way to save water and for people who can't water every day. This is not essential to growing and can be left out.

Step 2;) Now you can do this with other plants also without cutting the sides of the insert pots if you are not harvesting root vegetables. This works well for anyone who is not home enough to water everyday and still wants to grow other food /plants of any type. Water tends to evaporate very fast in Australian conditions so I do this on many plants to help them along. I block the original drain holes on the bottom of the pot so the pot will hold water like a bucket. Then I get a drill and raise drain holes up higher so there is a storage of water under the inside pot for the roots to drop into and take water for the plant as needed. There are Aquaponic systems of growing similar to this already well used around the world.

I used a bit of the waste plastic from the container that I cut from the inner pots to help give me a backing over the original drain holes then I used window silicone from the inside to stop any leaked. Test with some water first and use more silicone if needed. You can also use tape around the holes then silicone as previously stated. Then choose the hight you like to drill new drain holes. Allow silicone to fully set before use.

Some potatoes I left in the dark cupboard for a week to get the eyes on them started.

Potatoes cut in half because it had more eyes on the other end, they will each start their own plant in separate pots. I am starting a few of these potatoe pots today.

With the first inner pot now together inside the second outer pot now add some soil/potting mix a few inches deep from the bottom. Drop potatoes in with eyes to the top.

Now cover over and it look like I've done nothing at all here. Time to water and keep moist. This will be rather easy due to the fact that if you followed step two making the pots. The bottom of the outer bucket pot is holding water and capillary action will take place drawing the water up like a sponge into the soil with your potato seedling.

For the growing part. I have no pics from last time. Never thought I'd be writing blogs about these things. Very simple though, all you need to do since we have started the seedling in the bottom of the pot is as the plant grows add more potting mix too only allow the top few leaves exposed so the plant continues to keep growing. Do this periodically as needed till the pot is full the plant has reached the top.

Now for the easy harvesting part. Lift the first inside container up and you will be able to see your root vegetables growing through the sides then you will be able to harvest them when they mature as needed. Then simply put them back together and allow the plant continue production.

I hope you enjoy my brain child and do as well with the system as I have done in the past. Have fun I wish you all the best success, this is very easy for beginners without much space to grow. All you need is a sunny area. I especially think this is a brilliant project for children to learn how their food grows as you can lift it periodically to show them what is actually happening under the surface.