How to Grow Potatoes Like a Rockstar

If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know, I am a pretty big fan of growing potatoes in my garden. Now that I don’t have the same space that I used to, I am going to have to get a little creative on how I grow them, but I am totally up for the challenge.

I do have some space in the yard to grow standard, in the ground, taters.  This year, I am growing:

• Red pontiac
• Russet burbank
• French fingerling
• All blue

I bought 2.5 pounds of seed potatoes for each variety.  I plan on planting my potatoes in early March, and I’ll do another round in later summer for a winter harvest. 
How to Plant Potatoes 

Planting potatoes is easy-peasy.  Once you have your seedling potatoes, store them in the fridge until you are ready to plant them.  Then, a few days before you plan on planting, cut the seed potatoes into smaller chunks, making sure you have at least two eyes per chunk.  Let them sit out on a paper towel on the counter overnight to dry out a bit {it makes them less susceptible to disease if you let them dry out and callous over a bit before you toss them in the dirt}.

Plant them in a nice sunny, well-drained location.  When planting, start with a trench about 10-12″ deep.  Space the seedling potatoes about 10″ apart.  Then, add an additional 4″ or so of dirt mounded over the top of the already buried potatoes.  Now, just wait for them to grow.  Each time leaves begin to show through the mound, cover them with another 4″ of soil.  Repeat the process until the mounds are about 12″ high.  Then, just let the leaves continue to grow right up through the dirt.

If space is an issue, you can grow them in towers, using dirt and straw.  Create the tower with chicken wire or fence wire.  Loop it into a tower and secure the two ends.  Then, press straw into the sides of the wire cages, and add about 6 inches of dirt to the floor of the tower.  Lay your seed potatoes on top of the dirt {you can sandwich them in a little tighter than 10″, but I wouldn’t use more than 5 seed potatoes per tower}.  Cover the seed potatoes with another 6″ of dirt.  As with traditional potato growing methods, continue to cover the leaves as they emerge with 6″ of dirt, until the dirt has reached the top of the tower.

When to Harvest

Potatoes are ready to harvest when the leaves start to turn brown and die back.  To harvest them, just take a shovel and turn over the dirt.  Start nice and wide with your shovel so that you don’t accidentally pierce the tater’s flesh.  If you do stab one, it will need to be eaten right away.  Darn!  If you decided on a container method or tower method, simply dump the container out on a tarp, or remove the outer portion of your tower and start sifting for potatoes.

Potato Facts That Will Impress No One

The average American eats about 124 pounds of potatoes per year.  Wow, is it weird that I potentially eat my “goal weight” in potatoes? 🙂

White Potatoes belong to the same family as tomatoes, tobacco, chili peppers, and eggplants.  It’s known as the nightshade family.

In 1995, the potato became the first vegetable to be grown in space, when seeds were germinated on the Columbia space shuttle.

~Mavis