Potatoes, taters, spuds…call them what you will, potatoes are a
staple in the diet of many people all over the planet. Potatoes are a
nutritious, versatile vegetable, and they’re incredibly easy to grow.
But before you run out to the garden with your shovel and hoe, there are
a few things you should know about planting potatoes.
You may have heard old timers say that potatoes should always be
planted on Good Friday. This old wives’ tale is absolutely absurd.
Good Friday does not fall on the same calendar date each year and can
fall anywhere from early March to mid April. If folks in New England or
the upper Midwest tried to plant potatoes on Good Friday, many years
they’d be digging through rock-hard soil that was still frozen solid.
Do not plant potatoes too early, while the ground is still icy. If
the ground is too cold and wet, the seed potatoes will delay sprouting
until the growing conditions are more favorable. This is usually in
early March to late April, depending on the climate. Potatoes do
tolerate cool soil and a light frost, but not much growth will take
place until the soil warms up a bit.
You won’t find potato seedlings or packets of potato seeds for sale
at your local garden center. Instead, potatoes are grown from seed
potatoes. A seed potato is nothing more than an ordinary potato, with at
least one “eye”.
Back in the day before supermarkets, when gardens supplied most of
the food put on the table, the last of the potatoes in the storage bin
come spring were used for seed potatoes. Wise gardeners set aside
their blemish-free, healthiest potatoes for seed. Seed potatoes can be
planted whole, or they may be cut into pieces with at least one eye per
piece. Seed potatoes with more eyes will grow to produce a larger
quantity of potatoes but the potatoes will generally be smaller. Seed
potatoes with fewer eyes will produce fewer potatoes, but those potatoes
will tend to be larger.
If you choose to cut your seed potatoes into smaller pieces, divide
them a day prior to planting. This allows the cuts to heal over
slightly, which helps to prevent soil-borne diseases from infecting your
potato crop. Always choose seed potatoes that are free from blemishes.
Plant your whole or cut seed potatoes two to three inches deep in
good, rich soil. Rows of potatoes should be about three feet apart and
the potatoes within the row should be planted twelve inches apart. If
your potato crop has suffered from scab in the past, toss a small
handful of dry pine needles in the holes beneath your seed potatoes.
Along with moving your potatoes to a different section of the garden
each year, this will help prevent further scab infection. Potato scab
appears as rough patches on the skin of the potatoes.
Depending on the warmth of the soil, potato plants will begin to
emerge from the soil anywhere from one to three weeks after planting.
When the plants are about a foot tall, use your hoe to mound six to
eight inches of soil continuously along the entire row of plants. This
is called hilling. Hilling ensures that the potatoes will grow
deeply under the soil, away from sunlight which would cause them to
become green. Potatoes that suffer from greening will be bitter and the
inedible green parts must be discarded.
Keep the potato plants evenly watered while they are growing. A dry
period followed by a rainy spell will cause some potato varieties to
develop a hollow core. Yukon Gold potatoes seem to be especially prone
to this problem.
Another potential problem with potatoes is the potato beetle. The
larvae and adult beetles will feed on the potato foliage, and a heavy
infestation can damage the foliage enough to reduce your harvest
considerably. Watch for the beetle’s yellow eggs on the undersides of
leaves and crush the clusters whenever you see them. Larvae are a
deep orange color with a row of black spots on both sides, while the
adults are a paler orange with black stripes on the body and black spots
on the head. The larvae and adults can be picked off the leaves and
crushed if there are only a few. An infestation can also be controlled
with Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt. Bt is an organic control that is
very safe to use. Look for Bt that is specifically for potato beetles.
It is sold in many garden catalogs and garden centers.
Once your potato plants have bloomed, you can begin to harvest small
“new” potatoes. Depending on the variety of potatoes you’re
growing, this is about eight weeks after planting. In the fall, after
the foliage has begun to dry and die back, the entire crop can be dug.
Before storing them in a cool, dry and dark place, make sure the surface
of your freshly dug spuds has dried a bit. Spread them out in a dry spot
out of direct sun, such as a garage or shed, for a day or two before
putting them in storage.
Freshly dug, crisp potatoes taste better than any you’ll buy at a
grocery store. Grow some yourself and discover how easy and fun it is to
produce a staple crop of delicious potatoes for your family.
Kathy Anderson has been an avid gardener for many years and has grown
tomatoes by the acre, along with many other vegetables, flowers and
landscape plants. Kathy recommends http://www.freeplants.com
as a great place to learn more about gardening. Article provided by http://gardening-articles.com.
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