Do you have a shady spot in the garden and want to know if potatoes will work in it? Well, that is precisely the dilemma I faced, so I thought I would test it and find out, so let's have a look and see how I got on!
So, Can You Grow Potatoes In The Shade?
Yes, you can, my experiment has shown that you can grow potatoes in a fully shaded spot where they get no direct sunlight at all. You will have tubers to harvest but the harvest will be smaller than potatoes grown in full sun.
Read on to find out how I tested this out and came to the conclusion above!
Trying To Grow Potatoes In The Shade
Right at the bottom of my allotment, I have a large metal fence about 4 or 5ft high that runs the plot length. This is made of solid sheet roofing metal and happens to be on the south side of the plot.
So what this means is that the area right up to this fence gets no direct sunlight, none at all, it is in shade all day long.
Obviously, this poses a bit of a conundrum to the gardener and you wonder what will grow there. After leaving this patch bare for a year I decided to try and grow something there and to see what happened.
The crop I chose to grow was the humble potato, more because I had some spare seed potatoes left and thought why not? Rather than anything more profound.
So here they are, my potatoes in a pit. You can just see the bottom of the fence here and can also see that the sunlight just reaches the area where the grass starts. The potatoes will be in permanent shade.
Happily Growing In The Shade
Here you can see that the potatoes are happily growing away in this shaded patch, it also demonstrates just how the sun misses them entirely.
So the foliage is growing, but will any tubers develop? Is the plant able to suck up enough energy to store and create nice big spuds if it is not getting direct sunlight, I guess I will have to wait and see.
Harvesting My Shade Potatoes
So the time has come to harvest my shade-grown potatoes and see whether this experiment has been a success or a failure. Time to get digging!
Here is the patch before I started digging and as you can see there is only one potato plant (right in the back left corner) still standing.
I don't know whether it was to do with the shade or not but these potatoes died back really suddenly, one day they were there and the next they were gone.
So there they are the potatoes grown entirely in the shade. So this experiment was a success, but not without caveats.
I planted 8 seed potatoes and as you can see it wasn't exactly a bumper crop.
So while you can grow potatoes in the shade the crop will be a lot smaller. But if like me, nothing else was going to grow there anyway then why not grow some spuds?
Also, remember that these were grown in complete shade, they never got any direct sunlight.
So if your chosen area gets partial or even just a few hours of direct sunlight a day then you can expect better results than me.
Does Cutting Seed Potatoes in Half Effect The Harvest?
This is one of those gardening things that some people do while others will have never even heard of.
Cutting your seed potatoes in half to get extra seed potatoes.
The premise is simple enough: you cut your seed potato in half before planting, doubling the number of plants you get.
But does this work? And if the plants grow, do you get the same-sized harvest?
I was intrigued to find out, so I ran a mini-trial of my own this year, using Charlotte potatoes.
I had four bags filled with the same compost, and then two would have half a seed potato in and the other two a full one.
Would the half grow? Would the harvest be the same? Let's find out.
Here are the potatoes, full, half, full, half from right to left. They are all in the same compost and will be grown in the same spot.
When cutting your potatoes in half, you need to let them cure for a bit and skin over the wound before planting - just a little tip if you do decide to do this yourself.
The Results
So now it's time to harvest the spuds and see the result.
These were Charlotte potatoes, so an early type which means we are expecting to harvest smaller "new" potatoes.
Looking at the foliage things don't look too different, but were not bothered about the foliage - time to find out what happened underground.
The harvest of our first tuber, which was cut in half, comes in at 277.7g
And the second half tuber comes in at 188.2g
The first full tuber harvest comes in at 336.2g
And the second full tuber comes in at 316.5g
| Half or full | Harvest |
| Half | 277.7 |
| Half | 188.2 |
| Full | 336.2 |
| Full | 316.5 |
So it's pretty clear already that you will get a much smaller harvest if you cut your seed potatoes in half, but how much smaller?
Well, when we combine the numbers, we get 465.9g vs 652.7g
That's a whopping 40% larger harvest if you use full-seed potatoes rather than cutting them in half.
This is just a small trial with only four plants in it, but it has shown a very clear difference.
Hazel Rutter says
How do you start on hydroponics? My greenhouse, not yet erected, will be 22 foot x 10.4 with end smaller room. I'm very interested in hydroponics growing as I'm now disabled & unable to dig. I understand one still starts plant's the normal way in trays, then into hydroponic squares(or whatever they are called)
Daniel says
Hi Hazel, hydroponics is something I have never done so I can't offer much advice. I have seen this chap on youtube though who seems very good https://www.youtube.com/@Hoocho
Barry victor Brown says
I have to grow Potatoes in every way possible,( In Large Buckets, and Tub's )
Some are Grown in Shade but Most are behind Trees and bushes The ones in the sun are in Potato bags designed for the reason of not much room, Garden is only 30ft square in that area. It also is used for a Large fish pond and bushes so I still have a decent garden for plants etc. Last year we grew far too many potatoes in pots and had to store them in Potato bags indoors for the winter.. This year we will Probably do the same as you never Know what's coming. Thank you for showing that it Is possible to grow Potatoes in the shade. It encourages me to grow more.