You started growing your own spuds? As the only place I’ve seen small potatoes here are at Flavors, the Swedish restaurant in Taipei and I think he gets them specially grown for him.
I just planted some spuds, myself. Just in one long tray container, though. I doubt it will be big enough for them.
Going to try some myself, as I got a very small garden which I’ve mostly cleared up of whatever was growing there, but the soil is hard clay, so I figured maybe some spuds will help improve it a bit with a mix of some additional soil. We’ll see how it works out…
And once again we’re way off topic 
Any advice on growing them? How do you get started?? (I know that I can google this, but if I come across something telling me to buy potato seeds at my local supermarket it’s not really very relevant for growing in Taiwan…)
I want to eventually set up a little garden on my balcony. Not a whole lot of space but there’s a decent amount of sunlight to be had, and growing vegetables will definitely help with me being a poor student (poor in Time too, not a whole lot of time to go to the markets!)
You can do spuds by just getting a 25-litre bag of potting soil, cutting a half-dozen holes in the sides and shoving a tattie into each hole. Then cut the top off the bag and add some water. Voila. Don’t let it dry out and you should get around 20 kg of spuds or more. Don’t thank me – thank Jamie Oliver’s gardener.
Problem with spuds is that they hate hot weather. I assume you’re growing them in ‘winter’? How did it work out?
I want to do some potatos, too. I like the idea of just putting them in the bag of soil, but you can use fewer by cutting them up. If you cut them between the eyes and plant them eye up, there will be a new plant for each eye. I’ve never known anyone anywhere who bought potato seeds.
You shouldn’t cut them when you plant them, you should use whole spuds, as initially the plant will be nourished by the spud itself and it’ll make for better new spuds.
I don’t think there’s such a think as potato seeds, as potatoes are a tuber and as such not grown from seeds.
You need to make sure that the potatoes have sprouted with quite long sprouts, say 1-2 cm or so before you plant them as well.
Reimer seeds carries just about every kind of seed. If there were such a thing as potato seeds, they would have 30 varieties. They have none.
I’m testing this now, planting potatoes with and without sprouts.
Seems like I was a bit off on the measurements of the sprouts…
Going to plant mine tomorrow and see how it goes…
You can and should cut them. Cut about an inch and a half–two inches around the eyes. Let them dry out a day or two, then plant eye side up. Otherwise, you’re wasting potatos.
uhm, you’re also increasing the chance of them going rotten and/or being eaten by bugs by a factor of a lot, especially in Taiwan. But whatever…
If you’re just shoving them into a bag of potting soil, it won’t matter a whit. Just cut the, let them sit in the fridge a day or two to dry out on the cuts, and plant them. But, you’re right, whatever. As long as you grow you some tatters, why quible?
And jsut by the way, even if you use those local spuds the Swede dislikes so much, just WAIT until you grub 'em up when they’re still tiny! We got a bagful off a friend of delicious new potatoes one time that she’d grown herself on her allotment. SO good! When I asked where she got the original spuds? “Wellcome. They were extra cheap because they were a bit green and soft.” So go to it!
Well, that’s kind of the idea, little new potatoes, as it doesn’t tend to matter what they are at that stage, they’re pretty much all great when they’re no larger than a NT$50 coin. The problem here which seems to be the same with beetroot and carrots as well is that they grown them for too long and they turn into crap. According to every recipe I’ve read, beetroots are meant to take about 20-30 minutes to cook, the things on sale here takes an hour or more :loco:
At least they come out good once pickled, but bigger isn’t always better when it comes to veggies.
That, and too much rain is not good for them either. I’ve recently moved to a place where setting up a little garden will be an option but I think winter woud be the best time for spuds.
[quote=“TheLostSwede”]Seems like I was a bit off on the measurements of the sprouts…
Going to plant mine tomorrow and see how it goes…[/quote]
The ones I planted first, on Feb. 28, had 3 cm sprouts and did extremely well. The plants are a foot tall and very healthy looking.
[quote=“Dragonbones”][quote=“TheLostSwede”]Seems like I was a bit off on the measurements of the sprouts…
Going to plant mine tomorrow and see how it goes…[/quote]
The ones I planted first, on Feb. 28, had 3 cm sprouts and did extremely well. The plants are a foot tall and very healthy looking.[/quote]
Shaws, young man. Shaws. Not “plants.” Your taters won’t taste as good if you don’t know the jargon.
[quote=“http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/shaw”]shaw:
–noun
- Midland U.S. a small wood or thicket.
- Scot. the stalks and leaves of potatoes, turnips, and other cultivated root plants.
…
Origin: before 900; Middle English shawe, Old English sceaga, scaga;
akin to shag1
[/quote]
One man’s spud is another man’s shag?
Well, planted mine today, so we’ll see how they turn out, five lots if all goes well, but dunno about the soil here, it’s quite clay rich, although I mixed it with some plant soil and I’ve been working it for the past couple of weeks trying to soften it up a bit. I guess I’ll know soon enough if they’re growing and from what I read if all goes as intended, I should have new potatoes in about two months time.