This year I wanted to try growing potatoes on my organic balcony for the first time. In May, I planted six potatoes, pre-germinated seed potatoes that I bought from the Domäne Dahlem farm store in Berlin. I was particularly excited about the “Blauer Schwede” variety because the sprouts of this potato already had such an interesting purple-blue color.
I put the two seed potatoes of the “Linda” variety in an empty soil bag from the previous year, the “Bamberger Hörnchen” variety also went into an empty soil bag and the two “Blauer Schwede” seed potatoes went into a huge flower pot that I pulled out of the garbage. I didn’t understand why this beautiful flower pot should be thrown away, so I rescued it from the garbage and used it straight away for the potato growing experiment. The disadvantage was that this large pot stood right in my walkway on the narrow, elongated snack balcony and I always had to climb over it and the two sacks when I went to water it. I climbed over it again and again that summer, it was an extra fitness session. When the plants were bigger, they tickled my legs when I climbed over them in my summer skirt. Another side effect: my former neighbor from the previous apartment, 70 years old, who is so nice and looks after my apartment, including the flowers, when we travel, couldn’t get over these obstacles. So he didn’t water in the right-hand corner of the balcony and the plants survived.
Back to the self-experiment: About 10 cm of balcony soil was placed on the bottom of the pot and the two empty soil bags, which had to be provided with holes so that the watering or rainwater could run off. I placed 2 seed potatoes on top of this. These were covered with approx. 10 cm of balcony soil. As soon as the tips of the growing potato plants were visible, I covered them again with approx. 10 cm of balcony soil. I continued adding soil until the pot was full or the soil bags were half full. Now the foliage was growing and the tubers were growing into the mounded soil.
At the beginning of September, the foliage begins to wither. When they have withered completely, the potatoes are fully grown and harvesting can begin. If you can’t wait and want to harvest very young potatoes, you can of course do so earlier.
We invited my son’s friend over to harvest the potatoes — harvesting together is simply even better. Armed with spoons, the children stood on the narrow balcony and began to carefully lift out the soil. Soon they were only digging with their hands and were amazed to harvest a few hazelnuts. Had we had a visit from the squirrel over the summer, hiding its treasures there? The children were full of excitement because it took a while to find the first potatoes. My 8‑year-old son: “It’s full of baby potatoes”. His friend: “That’s so cute.” After a short time: “I can’t bend down any more. I don’t feel like it anymore, do you still feel like it?” “We’ve only just had seven of these.” “Do you want to stop?” “There must still be something in it.” Paul didn’t give up yet. His girlfriend again: “I can’t bend down any more. I can’t take one more step backwards. I can’t stand it here anymore.” “I still have to go through the Bamberger Hörnchen first.” “Okay, we only have three Bamberg horns.” “I’m getting a cramp here.” “I’m going to go digging again.” “I’m going to wash my hands.” Now both: “We can’t bend down anymore.” As you can see, it was a very funny affair. The children dug and we moms had great fun watching. The children looked wonderful after the digging was finished. Everyone was beaming, only the children’s hands and arms were black. It smelled good of earth.
Unfortunately, this year’s result of growing potatoes on the balcony was extremely poor, see for yourself:
But it was great, great fun to watch the plants grow over the summer. The plants got bigger and bigger, I had to lift my legs higher and higher when I climbed over the sacks to water them, the foliage tickled more and more. Remarkable: The foliage of the “Blue Swede” shone purple-bluish, the veins shone particularly blue, my son and I examined it again and again with joy.
We washed our mini potatoes and ate them on the train ride to our vacation destination. With the skin on, straight from the hand. When we took a bite, we were amazed to see that the potatoes of the “Blauer Schwede” variety were not only purple-blue on the outside, but also light purple to dark purple on the inside. Simply super. Our potatoes tasted great and were very tender. The regional supplier of my organic box wrote in the description: “The Blauer Schwede gourmet potato has a strong, slightly “earthy” typical potato flavor. It was delicious and looked great with the blue coloring.
I’ll try again next year. Why were there so few and so small potatoes? That’s open to speculation. Were the soil bags too dark on the outside, did the soil in the bag get too hot? Potatoes tolerate sun well, but the soil must not get too hot. Would a semi-shaded location be better? Have I watered too much? Was the soil in the bag too moist? Did I make too few holes in the soil bag so that it was too wet for the plants? The important thing is that we had a lot of fun. It was nice to watch the plants grow, the harvest was a great event, digging and searching in the soil, the tiny plants tasted great. Next year I will continue to gather experience with growing potatoes on the organic balcony. I will only put one potato in the bag or pot and make sure that there is no waterlogging.
Have any of you already grown potatoes on the balcony? I would be happy to share my experiences, thank you for your feedback.
I am the organizer of the Online Organic Balcony Congresses — which take place free of charge & online on the Internet. Welcome — registration at www.bio-balkon.de.
Do you still need tips for your balcony? Have a look at my guide from Gräfe und Unzer Verlag My biotope on the balcony. Experience nature and harvest happiness in the middle of the city.
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3 Responses
Dear Birgit,
Thank you for your great website. I’m already looking forward to the congress!
There is a great video about potatoes in sacks by a gardener who has tested different varieties in sacks and shares her experiences:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8qwaC6ZoiY&list=PLQUwRhm_02BedzbfN5CVwU2FvtGtYVRSC&index=7
According to their experiments, Bamberg croissants are not so suitable as sack potatoes.
Best regards,
Maritta
Dear Birgit,
Your blog and your balcony congress are simply wonderful, like balm for my soul! Thank you so much.
I just put the first potatoes in my sacks last week as I live in Switzerland, Blue St. Gallen potatoes, I too am very excited to see how my first sack potato experience will turn out. I wish you continued good ideas, thank you especially for your generosity in sharing everything so lovingly.
Best regards, Christine
Dear Christine, thank you for writing. Now I am very happy. I am happy to share such lovely comments. Have fun and more success than with us with your potatoes. But it really doesn’t always have to be many. It’s the journey. The children’s faces when they dig in the sack with their arms and are happy when they get the little potatoes out, that’s the important thing. The children and I never forget that. We always say Kartoffelfest at harvest time. The name alone always makes me smile and gives me a really nice feeling. Best wishes Birgit