Growing Potatoes

Growing Potatoes

Potatoes are wonderful. They are inexpensive and very much worth the space they will occupy in your garden. They are a solanums, like tomatoes, but they demand far less in the way of nutrients than other solanums and they prefer cool weather. A Solanum is any large genus (Solanum) of trees, vines, shrubs, and plants of the nightshade family: most are poisonous, but a few are cultivated for food like the potato and eggplant.
 

Potatoes are grown as annual plants. So if you live in the inland northwest like I do, they are great for our area and are easy to grow. Home garden potato varieties are, in fact, a health food that doesn’t need to be deep-fried or slathered in butter, sour cream, vinegar, salt, pepper or ketchup because unlike potatoes that are commercial they won’t leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

When to plant:

Even though potatoes like cooler weather they are not frost hardy. So avoid planting early when frost is still a danger. I would plant them between May 15th to June 1st or whenever your area is frost free. If you want to plant sooner try putting clear plastic over them about five or six weeks before the last usual frost date.

Seeds:



Before you plant your potatoes you will need to prepare them by chitting them. Chitting means encouraging the seed potatoes to begin to sprout before they are planted. To accomplish this, get the seeds at least three to four weeks before you’re going to plant them and spread them out one layer thick in bright light but not sunlight. Your temperature should be around 55 to 60 degrees. They’ll begin to turn green and the shoots will begin growing. At this stage, gently carry the seeds to the garden and plant them. Set the rows about 2 ½ feet apart. Cut big potatoes just before planting but do not break off the sprouts. To maximize yield, you want to encourage every possible bit of vine growth to occur before flowering commences. Depending on variety and season, a 100-foot long row may yield about 200 to 300 pounds. 100 row-feet with little to no irrigation on deep soil still yields about 100 pounds.

Harvest and storage:

Begin digging earliest potatoes after blossoming is over. When the vines first begin to deteriorate, withhold all water to dry the soil and toughen the skins which will enhance storage potential. Keep stored potatoes dark, damp and cold but protected from freezing. I store my potatoes in a cardboard box in my basement.

Varieties:

Here are a just a few varieties of potatoes that are the most popular.

Russets – Russets potatoes are characterized by their even oval shape and russet brown in color. Russets are good for baking, mashing and frying because of their low sugars and high solids.

Reds – Reds are often referred to as “new potatoes” and have a moist texture that is suited well for salads, soups and strews because their slices and chunks maintain their shape during cooking and mixing. They are also excellent for baking as well.

Yellows – Yukon Gold is an American favorite with golden flesh and creamy texture means you can use less or no butter for lighter dishes.

Growing potatoes at home gives you a dependable crop that you can store over winter. Growing potatoes is highly rewarding, productive and has become an exemplar of healthy eating and self sufficiency.

If you need more information on growing potatoes, here is a good potato book that will come in very handy.
The Potato Book