Potatoes are cool-weather crops that require well-draining soil and full sunlight for successful cultivation. When planting seed potatoes, make sure they’re certified disease-free before cutting them up into pieces with slightly-recessed eyes (sprouts).
Plant your potato patch around Valentine’s Day or early spring and add basic balanced fertilizer at planting time; be sure to water thoroughly afterwards.
Dig a Trench
Potatoes belong to the Solanaceae family, yet they grow differently than their tomato, pepper and eggplant counterparts. Potatoes prefer deep soil rich with organic matter for maximum productivity; too much sun exposure can be detrimental. With all this in mind, it is vitally important that before planting potatoes you first plan and prepare properly by digging a trench.
If you’re planting a large garden bed, dig a trench that’s 12 inches wide by 9 to 10 inches deep using either a shovel or garden hoe to form the trench.
Once your trench is dug, add in some high-grade compost or well-rotted manure and loosen the soil using a digging fork – you should also store any soil removed from your trench in a wheelbarrow for use later in this row.
Grow Biointensive planting method of potato planting requires more work, but yields better results in the end. You are burying your potatoes deeper right from the start while providing them with rich and loose soil thanks to double digging process.
When planting is complete, lay seed potatoes out in rows with their sprouts facing upward and cover with additional inches of the soil reserved from your wheelbarrow – one which is both nutrient rich and free from pathogens.
For areas with limited ground or space, try creating no-dig potato piles. To build one, start by layering cardboard with various organic material – compost, seaweed, comfrey leaves or grass clippings are good candidates – then nestling a seed potato into each pile before covering with up to 30cm high of compost.
As your plants develop, it will be necessary to hill them up periodically so as to protect the potatoes from becoming exposed to sunlight, which could otherwise turn them green and bitter. Simply add more soil around each one every few weeks until you create an even mound around each one.
Plant
Potatoes belong to the Solanaceae family alongside tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, yet grow differently than their relatives due to a higher soil pH level. As such, many gardeners opt for growing potatoes in containers rather than directly in the ground – from terra-cotta pots and whiskey barrels to galvanized bins; special potato bags even exist that feature an easy lift-up flap for retrieving harvested potatoes!
If you prefer planting potatoes in the ground, select an area in your garden that receives ample sunlight and is free from low spots where standing water could pool. Select an area that drains well, and amend as necessary with compost or manure; fresh manure must first be tested for weed seeds and high salt content prior to being planted, while finished compost provides organic matter and nutrients which help retain moisture more effectively than fresh materials.
When planting, create straight trenches 12-18 inches deep and 24 to 36 inches apart, placing seed potato segments cut-side down into each trench or hole spaced 12-inches apart on all sides. After placing seed potatoes, cover them with two inches of soil and sprinkle granular low-nitrogen/high-phosphorous fertilizer over them; when plants reach six to 8 inches in height, hill them up by bringing up some soil around their aboveground portions – this process known as earthing up helps reduce rot from wet soil!
Gardeners in warmer regions usually plant potatoes around Valentine’s Day; those in cooler areas usually do so near Easter. Either way, protection will need to be provided from frost as soon as the temperatures start dropping.
If planting in containers, either use a growing bag designed for that purpose or a heavy-duty polypropylene garbage bin will do. Begin by adding several inches of amended potting soil made with compost or manure at the bottom, before planting your seed potato pieces with eyes facing upward. Top up as needed as the plants develop further and continue adding soil as necessary – as with planting directly in the ground, check on and water deeply regularly!
Hill
Potatoes differ significantly from their Solanaceae cousins like tomatoes and peppers in that they require much more space and have different needs in terms of soil pH levels, yet are still simple to grow at home even without a large plot of space devoted exclusively to them. If space is at a premium, try growing potatoes in bins or towers; results may surprise you!
To successfully cultivate potatoes in a bin, it is necessary to create a three to four foot-wide cylindrical structure from chicken wire fencing or box wire, line its interior with newspaper in a thickness of 10 sheets, and fill its lower eight inches with compost and potting soil mixtures.
As soon as your seed potatoes have been planted in rows 12-14 inches apart and 30-36 inches between rows, hilling can help increase yield from each plant by creating more space on their stem for formation of new potatoes – something called haulm formation – hilling also prevents lower potatoes from becoming green and bitter over time.
An efficient method for hilling potatoes is using a rake or chip hoe to pull soil towards each haulm by switching sides with each pass – taking approximately one minute per plant, this should be repeated several times over the season.
Growing potatoes at home requires ample water and fertilizer. Start by mixing plenty of organic matter into the soil in the fall. This helps improve drainage, moisture retention, and chemical fertilizer use in difficult soil conditions while reducing chemical fertilizer needs. Once plants begin emerging use balanced liquid or soluble fertilizers every few weeks to promote healthy tuber growth and quality tubers.
Keep these factors in mind when growing potatoes: sunlight should not be so intense as to cause leaf burn, while frost-sensitive varieties require planting early in spring – the exact timing will depend on your climate; warmer areas tend to plant their potatoes around Valentine’s Day while those in colder zones must wait until late spring or early summer before getting them planted in the ground.
Harvest
Potatoes belong to the Solanaceae plant family and require special consideration when grown at home, unlike their tomato, pepper and eggplant counterparts. Potatoes require extra space and need soil with lower pH levels than their tomato or pepper-growing relatives do; compost or worm castings can help enhance their potential in your garden. Alternatively, potatoes can also be grown successfully in containers from small terra cotta pots to whiskey barrels and galvanized bins, some even equipped with lift-up flaps for effortless harvesting!
To grow potatoes in the ground, dig a trench 6-8 inches deep and plant seed potatoes cut-side down with eyes facing upward, 12-15 inches apart on all sides. Cover these seeds with 4 inches of soil; as their plants expand further bury additional dirt through hilling up more around them as the plants progress – this process helps keep potatoes cool while decreasing green potato skins that can look unpleasant and taste bitter.
Planting potatoes depends on your climate. In warmer regions, gardeners usually plant around Valentine’s Day; in cooler areas, planting may occur closer to Easter. Whatever date you select for planting your potatoes is key in order to ensure they will reach maturity for storage purposes.
As your potatoes begin to mature, stop watering them so that they may “dry out” before digging. Harvest when at least half the aboveground foliage has turned yellow for maximum flavor and texture; harvest later when foliage has died back for thicker skinned tubers suitable for long-term storage.
Grown from seeds or cuttings, potatoes can provide you with an abundant supply of fresh, delectable veggies while saving money and decreasing chemical exposure. Along with adequate watering and fertilizer applications (organic slow release fertilizer should be mixed into your planting hole when creating it, then add liquid nitrogen feed every couple weeks throughout their growth season), they’re an inexpensive and healthy way to feed yourself!
If planting potatoes in raised beds, use organic potting soil with high levels of organic matter and no high-clay content; such soil would be too dense for satisfactory potato growth.
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