 Welcome to the Primary Property Farming Podcast. My name is Marlene Walker and this is another edition of the Gardening Series with Home Growers. Today we have another exciting episode where we're going to be discussing the potato growing bag and we're going to be planting our very own potatoes today with me, Kess, from Home Growers. But before we get on to the show, I just want to mention a special announcement that we have our winner with the Gardening Barrel here, which will be fully kitted. And our winner is none other than Balessa Silane. And she mentioned that she'll be growing her own spinach as well as strawberries in this grow barrel. Congratulations, Balessa. This grow barrel will be shortly on your way. So let's get on in today's show. Kess, thank you so much once again for another exciting episode. So what is it that we're doing today? Well, it's always an absolute pleasure having you join us at Home Growers. Now this is probably one of my finest and one of my most enjoyable products that we've ever manufactured and put into market. There is none other than the Potato Grow Bag. We've got them in two colors. We've got them in that bottle green and we've got this in the beautiful beige. Again, what is very important, these bags are manufactured in South Africa for South African conditions. It's got the hydration holes underneath so that water seeps through so you don't get any rot. Because rotting potatoes, any of you that have tried growing potatoes and you smell that, is something that you don't want to experience. Quite a punch and smell. So these are being very specifically designed, very well stitched. We've got Velcro flap doors in the front, which you see in the front of the table over there. That is an easy access point. So once the potato is growing and you want you to harvest smaller potatoes, you can do that whilst it's still growing. You can actually open it and you can harvest some potatoes. So that's what a lot of people do. What I prefer to do is I allow the plants to grow right to its full and then from that side, I harvest the entire plant and they get all my potatoes. But today what we're going to do is we're going to show you how to grow potatoes. I promise you it is so, so simple. People don't realize how simple it is. And this is what's magnificent about anything that we do at Home Growers. We show you how to get growing with ease. You can grow a variety of different products with potatoes. This is where the magic sits because it is easy and you're going to have a little bit of patience. Once you have that, when you watch it happen, you'll see the potato grow. But let's start. Before we get into the actual growing, I just want to find out, this is a potato grow bag. Is there anything else that we could grow into this bag? Like carrots for example? So any carrots and beetroot, basically any crops that grow underneath the soil? That's right. Or is it specifically for potatoes? The truth is you could grow anything in this. Just the fact that we've engineered it specifically for potatoes. We've got the front harvesting panel and that is specifically for your potatoes. Your carrots that you're going to pull out on the top. Now if you wanted to, if you decided to, wanted to grow carrots or beetroot or onions or any other type of vegetable, you can do that. The only difference is that this has been engineered specifically for... Potatoes. Potatoes that you could harvest into the hatch. That is it. But there's nothing stopping you from growing anything. This is the potato grow bag and because of that we're going to stick to potatoes. And what I've done is I have five of them and I have them growing in series. So as I've harvested the one, I put it behind the queue and then I start that again. And the next one pops out, I'll harvest that one, put it in the queue and then you'll end up getting them a staggered growth approach. So you always have potatoes. The trick with potatoes though is that because there's a little bit of an odds to growing potatoes is if you have a very, let's say, small harvest on your first attempt, don't give up. Don't give up. Because we'll show you now how we go about it. But as the plant grows, you've got to fill it with soil. You've got to fill it with soil. You've got to chase that growth with soil. If you don't, then your harvest or your produce is going to be less. But let's go through it. So what we have here on the table is definitely some potatoes, some grow bags and some compost as well as our spray bottle. So what's the first step? Because I also see that these potatoes have a slight root on it. So maybe if you could just take us through the first step of planting our potatoes. Okay, first is, I'm glad you mentioned that because I took these out just to show. So here we have potatoes that are really showing some significant growth on them already. Yeah. These don't have any growth. Yeah. Now the difference is, these have been left in a bag, in a dark place, and they've landed up sprouting. So you've got beautiful, beautiful health and shoots. Now what happens, and I've seen it in some households, soon as someone sees it, they go, this is not going to be good and they throw it away. It's the worst thing you can do because this is magic. You want this. This is absolutely spectacular because you can take this and you can start the journey immediately. Now there's two ways of doing it, and I'm going to show you now. You can either take the whole potato, the whole spud, and you can pop it into soil and then cover it and then keep it moist. The trick here is to always keep it moist, never over flood it because you're going to encourage rot, which is not what you want. So you keep it moist and then what you will find is that over a couple of weeks, takes a few weeks, you're going to start shooting. You see beautiful green shoots coming, beautiful little leaves, and as that starts to form, start filling the soil full, full, full, full as it grows. And that will become a very, very healthy potato plant. Now the same with this here, which is also beautiful. I'm going to show you, I'm going to put those down quickly and I'm going to take the typical kitchen potatoes as we would refer to. Now this typically is what you would prepare for a meal. And a lot of people don't understand. They look at this and they go, OK, well that's nice. We're going to make dinner tonight. And they'll end up peeling the potato again. They'll end up peeling it nicely. So those of you that have peeled potatoes for fries or for a stew or a curry or whatever it is know all about this. And we'll end up peeling these beautiful potatoes. And what happens is the skins land up in the dustbin. Which is very, very sad. Now what you can do is when you cut these skins, cut them a little bit deeper than normal. So you'll see there's a fairly decent depth. And then you land up using this for eating. So you peel it off as you would do. And this you would, the remaining part, which is the peeled potato, that is what you're going to consume and cook with. The rest is what you're going to grow. So that's going to be your edible, which is going to go into yummy, yummy food. And that's going to just put that away now because they're not interested in that for their moments. And then what we do is to prepare the potato grow bag, we take the skins that I've just cut. And I always use a very simple explanation to people when I try and teach them for the first time. If you look at your skin, you'll always see that you've got the wet side and you've got the arse side. The arse are the little dots in there, which is where the shooting and the growth is going to come from. I always say arse to the scar. So the arse must always face the scar and the wet must be into the soil. So what we do now, so we're going to take some beautiful compost. We're just going to pour it into the grow bag or our potato grow bag. And we're going to do this just enough to cover the base because what you want to do is you want to stimulate the growth of the roots. The rooting to start to form. You're not using a lot of soil. You're just using a little bit of soil that's really going to... At the bottom. That's right. You're not putting a fortune in just that you've got a significant amount that's going to allow the potato to actually find its position in the soil. Now we've got about that much soil in. It's not a lot. So remember, arse to the scar. So we land up popping them in like that. All right. So we just position them and you can put as many as you like. It doesn't make a difference because some will take and some won't take. Okay. So as we've got all these skins in the soil now, never worry about how many you've put in because remember some aren't going to take. Okay. And as we said, and I'm going to just state it again that we just remember, it's always arse to the scar and the wetting to the soil. So now we've got it. So now that it's in there, we're going to take more soil and we're going to dust it. We're just going to dust it just gently. That's it. Just to cover. You just want to cover it that they're not exposed because what you want to prevent is you don't want the skins to dry out. That's the last thing you want to do. You don't want them to dry out. Okay. So that's that. Now we're going to spray it. Okay. Because remember, we never over spray. We just keep it moist. I love the smell. It's incredible. So that is it. That's all we need to do in terms of prepping your potato grow bag. That is it. Now you leave it. Okay. Every day just check that it's moist and carry on spraying every day. If it's wet, then it's fine. Leave it outdoors full sun. Not a problem. Don't worry about the elements. Don't worry about rain. Don't worry about anything. Just as long as it is not soaked. If it rains and it fills up, it's not a stress because it's going to drain out. Yes. You just don't want to have it every single day waterlogging. Absolutely. That's what you don't want. So do we always keep the compost at a very low level? Yes. Or would we have to fill it up? So what you'll do is as it starts to grow and you start getting decent growth coming out of the potato skin itself, you will see it. It's a very strong green and you'll see it piercing through the soil. As it pierces through the soil, just carry on topping up with soil. So it will grow, top up the soil. Grow, top up the soil. I see. It will get to the top here and you'll have a beautiful bush which will ultimately flower. Yeah. And you can either wait for post-flowering to harvest or you can harvest at the flowering stage. So you can decide. Just going to get different size potatoes. Yeah. And throughout the growing process, do you have to put any fertilizers, whether it's organic fertilizers just to maybe speed up the growth, some foliar feed, just to make sure that at the end of the day you have round looking potatoes. Yeah. You don't have to worry about any of that. Okay. You can just carry on as long as you're using a good soil and a good composting, you might be in an area where the soil quality will be poor, then supplemented with some of your own home, grow a natural composting that you can create at home. So it's a very, very simple process to follow. It really is. Potatoes are probably one of the easiest things to grow. And the effect that you can actually grow it from skins is insane. And how long does the process take? So we've just planted right now in our skins and how long would it be fully ready to be an edible potato? You give it about 67 days there and there about. Okay. It varies. It varies from sun conditions to temperature to rain, how much moisture you've given it in terms of hydration. So it really does depend. But 67 days there and there about is actually probably the right amount of time. Got it. And it's a lovely, lovely activity for everyone in the family to get involved. Yeah. Because it's something you just can't wait to see the end result. You see this thing growing and the mere fact is that you say to yourself, I cannot believe that we actually have potatoes growing from skins. You know, you tell people and you say, you know what, you can get potatoes from skins. I think you've lost your mind. They say, how can you grow? It's like taking a notchy and putting a notchy skin in soil. And then you have a notchy tree. It doesn't work like that. So why would a potato? It just does. So you've got to trust it and it works. Yes. So that's from the skin. Now I'm going to show you from the potatoes that we had from the dark bag that we're stuck in a cupboard somewhere and then you get this make this and grow. So I'm going to show you what you do. Because a lot of people just take the potato and they're plonkin and hope for the best. Okay. And it actually works very, very well. But we're going to show you something else. I'm going to take this one and put this one aside for now. Okay. Are we using the green bag now? Now we're going to prepare the green bag. So again, just so that we can remind. Look, you'll see inside there. Yes. You've got all those holes, the beautiful drainage holes and that allows the water to seep through. You've got, again, you've got the perforated harvesting hatch to get your potatoes. So you have that just like the previous bag, extra stitching around there, handles on the sides so you can move it around should you want to. It's really a well-constructed device or product rather. Okay. Now what we're going to do exactly as we had done before in the previous on the skins, we're going to take soil and we're going to pop it in. Just to again cover the base that the potatoes got something to nest into. A very nice thing about as well is that once you've harvested your potatoes, I reuse the soil. And you'll be surprised how many we're going to start seeing as well, which is beautiful. You create your own biological ecosystem in there. Absolutely. I empty the whole bag out and then what I do is I let it aerate for a day or two or three and then start the journey again. Okay. You can't believe it. There's so many microorganisms that exist in that soil. So now if we take this particular one, I saw a nice one right by you a few seconds ago. So I want to try because there's one there. This is a lovely one as well. Okay. I want to show you different examples of what can be done because a lot of people what happens is they get these potatoes and they go, I'm not eating that. I'm going to throw it away. So now what we're going to do is you've got different elements of what you can do in terms of your harvesting of the skins. So we're going to chop this one in half. Actually not really half, more than a third. Okay. And we're going to take that piece and we're going to plonk that into the soil. Okay. Then you've got the shoots to the sky. Okay. And you've got pieces all over. So what we're going to do is we're going to try to maximize our ability to get the most out of this particular potato. So this one I'm trying to find with the Azores. They've got to pop that there. Here you've got a beautiful one. We've got to pop that there. And then what we will do is for sake of reference we're going to take these bags and remember that the beige one with the skins and the green one will show on the spots. Right. And then we'll have a competition and maybe your viewers will have a vote to see which is going to win the race. Is it going to be the green or is it going to be the beige? So that'll be quite interesting to one. Green or beige. That's actually quite a great concept. So we've got green or beige. So we'll see. That'll be an interesting one to see. So this is a nice one. As you can see this one is in a very bad state and most people again will just throw it away. Yeah. Or just cut off and you've got beautiful growth coming out there. Okay. Okay. So now we cover with soil. Okay. So the same way. Not too much soil. We just dust it. You cover it. Now you're going to put a little bit more on this one because the spuds are bigger than the actual skins. Right. So we do this as you can see we're just dusting it. First you cover that you don't see any potatoes and then we do the spray again. So we pump this up there's a pump action going on you. I like how this entire system seems so convenient you know. It doesn't make a lot of mess. Everything is compact and you can just do it right on top of a table. Pick up this bag and go put it by the patio. That's it. You know. No mess. Absolutely no fuss. Yeah. It's a simple system to work with. It's a system that's going to last you for years. It's well constructed. It's UV protected. Yes. It's double stitched. It's got everything you need. Right. Awesome. That's it. And in 67 days we're going to have potatoes. This is fantastic. So we're going to be making some decent fries. We're going to fry some potatoes or we're going to make a stew or we're going to do something with these potatoes. Yeah. And tell you the best potatoes you've ever eaten. Yeah. The best potatoes are the ones that you form or the best. Absolutely. So you reckon use your own potatoes especially the ones that you were going to throw out to just replant again instead of maybe coming on to your home growers and then buying seedlings or seeds. Exactly. A lot of people go out and they look and they and you read on the net and you find ah, I'm looking for seed potatoes, seed potatoes, seed potatoes. And so seed potatoes are great. Don't get me wrong. They're brilliant. Do you have them in your kitchen? In your kitchen. Yeah. And just because they don't have ours on them. You know, that's other people thing. People look at them and they go like, I'll take this one here. It doesn't look like there any ours there but those little black dots on there those are ours waiting to form. You can consume the whole potato and you can still use the skins. So you're getting a double benefit from it. I mean, it is absolutely insane. What other vegetable or food do you get that you can actually consume it, enjoy it and then just the product of the skinning of it allows you to grow more vegetables. Yeah. Yeah. And so when can one start planting these? I mean, right now we're approaching summer so what would be your preferred time to start planting these in your own garden? So the nice thing about South Africa again our conditions are so superb. I've grown my potatoes throughout the year. Oh wow. 365 days a year. The difference is that different times of the year the temperature does slow things down. Absolutely. So your 67 days might have become 90 days and after work get out 90 days is what, three months? Yes. So you've gone and that's why it's so special about South African climates is that you've literally there's three months you've gone from winter into summer so you've actually want to put them in an area where you all protect a little bit from like dire, dire drops and temperatures. Okay. So you put it somewhere with a little bit of a canopy or a bit of coverage or a bit of something just to protect from frost and us, us, us cold weather but if you look in Europe where potatoes are growing as well I mean their climates are harsh incredibly harsh and you've got some of the best potatoes that will come from there so it doesn't really make a difference I've grown throughout the year these moisture keep them watered and keep topping them up the trick and the challenge here is to watch your potato grow and fill it as it grows you have to have to fill it as it grows right if you don't do that it will affect the output the quantity of what you will get in terms of potatoes right so some people say oh I tried this and then I only got three potatoes what a waste well maybe you didn't fill it up as it was growing and by that stage the plant had already and it hadn't shot out new root systems to create the tubes and that's what happens and then you have a beautiful bush but you've got very few potatoes underneath so those are the kind of things that you get over water you get root rot and then you get rotting potatoes but you'll learn so what happens most people we talk to they start the journey and then they just carry on over and over again because their first time their first attempt was a lesson they learned and they said ah I know what I did and that's really what it is right so just to sum up the growing bags just give us a quick checklist to say you need your pump you need the grow bag and you can either want to plant in skin or plant in the studs just maybe just give us a quick checklist once again so that we know what to do once we've purchased these and once we're ready to start planting our own potatoes at home perfect so let's break it down and say okay so let's have a checklist what is the checklist to grow a potato well very simply you get a grow bag tick we've got the grow bag soil tick we've got the soil compost either skins or potatoes tick from the potatoes in your house so if you don't have potatoes that are ready shooting what a big story okay not an issue at all just use your skins so as you're preparing your meal like I showed you earlier skin the potato make it a little bit don't cut it right if you take a potato a peeler peels so close to the potato itself no you're not going to have success there and the reason being is by the time that peeler potato skin starts to germinate and to shoot its plant it uses so much of its own internal energy from the wet part of the potato the moist of all the nutrients in it to sustain itself for growth if it's too thin there's not enough nutrients in there to kickstart it so you have to have a bit of flesh on there so that's the trick just make sure you slice a little bit of the typical skinning of a potato yes put your soil in the bag okay put the potato skins in remember R to the scar and then moist into the soil yeah and then dust it with soil after you've put them into your position when you say when I say dust it just put enough soil in there it covers them it mustn't be drowning with that much soil not too thick and that's it and then take a sprayer if you haven't got a sprayer just take water just gently because the reason why we prefer a sprayer when your water doesn't flush the water away evens it out throughout the bag so that's why we prefer a sprayer okay but you can take you can't take water you can even take water in your hand and just you know sprinkle it around you can do that so there's nothing preventing you from doing that and then just carry on their process until you watch the shoots coming through and growing and then lo and behold over 67 days you can have a beautiful bush with flowers on it and your potatoes will be ready to harvest right and then in the harvesting we open up the front flap pulling out the potatoes that's your one option of doing it especially if you want little baby potatoes some people like little baby potatoes for different types of meals absolutely or if you like me I'll just put a a sheet out and I empty the whole bag out and then I go digging for diamonds I go hunting for all my drills and I find all these beautiful potatoes and it's the most incredible thing in the world when you start seeing the potatoes coming out of the soil because what you find is as they come out of the soil it doesn't look like a potato at the supermarket it looks a little bit different but it will look different because it's just freshly out of the soil and it's got a very milky texture on those little dots which is where the rooting system connects to and that's what you're going to get so don't be afraid of that which is a fresh potato yeah after seconds of taking it out and actually washing it it's gone but when you eat that potato it's unlike anything you've ever had and that is the journey that you've got to follow oh wow every time I'm here at homegrows I learn something new these are just amazing I love the bags I love the colours and I like the concept behind it because you've really made it quite easy for the person to grow their own food in their own backyard so thank you so much for the special episode and I hope we can get more people growing some potatoes absolutely thank you so much for watching at home remember Palessa you are going to win your own growing barrel because you're the winner of our competition and please share some photos of your lovely spinach as well as your strawberries that you're going to be growing and speak to cats speak to the homegrower's stuff they'll assist you in everything you need to know about your growing barrel and for you at home that are interested in buying these potato grow bags you can get them right here at homegrowers and also please share your journey with us tag Private Property tag the Private Property Farming podcast and definitely tag Homegrower's as we'd like to know your process of growing your own potatoes throughout the journey that's it for myself as well as cats and we'll see you at the next Gardening Series on Tuesday and Thursday at 8pm take care