Planting Potatoes in DIY Jute Bags
Grow your own harvest on a balcony
This year I have really been taking advantage of three things - the warm spring season, my beautiful conservatory style balcony and the coronavirus social distancing. Ever since we’ve been advised to stay indoors, the balcony has become my peaceful refuge. And I am so happy for it because I can try different things like the today’s project - planting potatoes in DIY jute bags! I have finally been able to grow plants that I’ve been wanting to try for the past couple of years.
My little indoor greenhouse garden
Since the end of March I have slowly planted tomatoes, beans, garden peas and strawberries. I’ve also had this beautiful vintage wooden crib from my parents’ old house loft which I initially wanted to renovate and use to store one of my favourite things - cozy knit blankets which I love to have handy in the living room. However, since the flat renovation is going slowly the crib has been waiting to be used on the balcony. So this year I decided to turn it into a temporary raised garden bed. And it’s been working beautifully!
The carrots, parsnips and root celery that I’ve planted there are coming out already! That’s the advantage of the balcony - it faces south and the glass gives it such lovely feel of a greenhouse. I can definitely tell by the way the plants have been growing so I also got some pre-grown deli herbs to try in fresh, homemade recipes. And I also decided to take my indoor gardening attempts one step further - plant potatoes in a DIY jute bags!
Did you enjoy planting potatoes in DIY jute bags project? Why not save it to one of your ‘Gardening’ or ‘Home DIY Tips’ Pinterest boards for later!
Planting Potatoes in DIY Jute Bags
You may wonder how come the jute bags. Wouldn’t the water come through? Wouldn’t the soil dry out too quickly? I thought the same until I read a few articles and decided to see if this gardening method works. I water my plants daily and even use the humidifier to blow cold mist into the closed balcony. This is mainly a prevention against parasites who love the dry sunny environment there is otherwise. So in order to protect my plants I try to keep the environment moist and even cool. On the other hand the balcony is very sunny so the plants do well there in the warm, humidified environment. I hope that this will be the case for my newly planted potatoes as well!
You’ll need:
- 8-10 sprouting potatoes
- high-quality compost mix
- cow’s manure for nutritional boost of the compost mix (optional)
- jute fabric and thick twine
- crochet hook size 5
- sewing machine, regular polyester sewing thread
- cling film
Instructions
Making the bottom of the jute bag
The DIY part of this project is completely optional - you can simply purchase ready made jute bags or even use regular plastic bags. I love to use craft in different projects so I made my own bags. If you want - you can try this too! To make the bag stand nicely on the floor once filled with the compost mix, crochet two rectangle mats using a thicker jute twine and crochet hook size 5. Make 21 simple crochet stitches to form a chain. Then go backwards on the same chain from 20-1 simple stitching into each stitch of the chain, continuing in a spiral on both sides of the initial chain until the width builds up. After about 10-15 rows on each side you should have a nice, square-ish mat to use as a bottom of the potatoe planting jute bag.
Sewing the crochet bottom and the jute sides together
Measure the outer edge of the crochet mat to estimate how wide your jute fabric will need to be. Mine was around 1.2 m including the hem allowance. Then consider the height of the jute bag - this is mainly because planting potatoes happens in stages and as the plant grows you need to accommodate additional layers of the compost mix. For this reason the DIY jute bag needs to be quite tall. I made mine about 1 m tall so the final piece of the jute fabric to sew onto the crochet mat was 1 x 1.2 m. Firstly, stitch the raw sides of the jute fabric piece together so you have a nice ‘tunnel’. then pin the bottom edge to the edges of the crochet mat and stitch again using a dense, wide zig-zag stitch. And the bag is done! Easy no??
Planting potatoes in a DIY jute bag
Now it’s time to add the compost mix. Compost is a lovely soil to use for growing potatoes because it isn’t as heavy as other types of soil. It’s quite airy and full of nutrients which potatoes love. I also mixed my compost mix with about three handfuls of cow’s manure for each of the bags. Before you place the compost mix into the jute bag, use three long sheets for the bottom - one horizontally and two vertically across the first sheet. It doesn’t need to reach all the way up the sides but mainly cover the bottom of the jute bag. This will help to keep the water in mechanically although a large amount would still be allowed out through the sides, preventing the plant from rotting. In addition, the cling film helps to encourage moist and warm environment for better growth.
Once the cling film is in place, begin adding the compost mix on top. Create a layer about 15 cm high and place abbout 4 sprouting potatoes on top. Add another 10 cm layer of the compost mix and finally water the potatoes.
As the plant begins to grow first leaves, add another layer of the compost mix to help it create layers where the potatoes will grow. Use up all the space you have in the bag until you begin to see that the plant leaves are beginning to shrink and dry out. This is usually a sign that the harvest is finally ready - this can take anywhere between 100-120 days, with early harvested types of potatoes such as new potatoes this time will come much sooner, in a matter of weeks.
Happy planting! Let us know in the comments bellow how the project went for you!
Did you enjoy planting potatoes in DIY jute bags project? Why not save it to one of your ‘Gardening’ or ‘Home DIY Tips’ Pinterest boards for later!
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