Occasionally, I grow my own potatoes. I feel like a real farmer when I do this. I don't know why but.... So this year, I am growing my own potatoes. In the past, I grew them in buckets. This year I purchased a grow bag. Right after that I saw a blog post from the Master Gardeners of Contra Costa. I copied the post below.

You like potato and I like potahto,

You like tomato and I like tomahto,

Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto!

Lets call the whole thing off!

(Lyrics by George/Ira Gershwin)

Last year was the first year I grew potatoes. I was a little apprehensive about doing so, because I was concerned about verticillium wilt and blight, which could wreck my soil for future planting of other crops. I'm glad I didn't let my concerns stop me and call the whole thing off.

I decided to go ahead and plant potatoes, but instead of growing them in the ground, to allay my fears, I opted to grow my potatoes in a grow bag. The bags can be found in brick and mortar nurseries, but I ordered mine online. By doing so, I was able to choose colors and sizes.

The advantages of using a grow bag are:

• The bag provided me with the ability to move my crop around my garden;
• It allowed for good drainage while also preventing the roots from becoming root bound;
  
• It's easier to harvest the potatoes;
• I can control where the potatoes grow; and
• Growing in a bag prevented verticillium wilt from possibly contaminating into my soil.

When the leaves turned yellow and died back, that was the indicator to start checking for potatoes.

This post was written by Master Gardener MaryJo Smith of Contra Costa County.