If you don’t have an allotment or space in your garden for a vegetable patch, you can grow potatoes in containers on your patio. Large pots work well, but sacks are particularly good, as you can start with them rolled down, and unroll the sides as you earth the potatoes up. You can enjoy a surprisingly good crop by growing in this way, as long as you remember to water regularly.

When to start: Late winter.

At their best: Summer.

Time to complete: 1 hour.

You will need: Seed potatoes, several sacks or large pots, soil-based compost, watering can.

Plant potatoes

Make sure your container has adequate drainage holes, then put 20 cm (8 in) of compost in the base. Place one or two “chitted” seed potatoes per pot or sack on top of the compost. Cover them with about 10 cm (4 in) of compost, and water in well.

Keep earthing up

As the potatoes grow, unroll your sack to make the sides higher. Keep covering the new growth with compost; don’t worry, the shoots will soon find their way through the soil. When you reach the top, and can earth up no more, just let the plants grow. Water regularly. New potatoes can be harvested any time after flowering.