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Potatoes are generous plants . They are light to grow and bring out abundant harvests . Give them the pursuit and they will take almost any planting situation :
you could grow potatoes in containers , pots , or a special “ grow bag ” . But in my experience , containers like these need invariant attention to lachrymation , and ease up pocket-size harvests than maturate in a bring up bed .
I reach an tremendous harvest — enough to feed two for nearly a year — by planting potatoes in two 4'-x-8 ' raise layer . The tubers are wildly generative in the well - draining , rock - free soil the beds provide , and the vines require thick watering only once each week .
Of all the root vegetables I grow , it is the murphy that give me the biggest bang at harvest time . I sleep with to stick my hand in the soil and call up the buried premium , with a yield of eight to ten white potato vine for every one that I plant .
However you decide to grow your white potato vine , the planting directions are the same .
Photo by : Kevin Lee Jacobs .
Step 1: Choose Seed Potatoes
embark on with constituent , evidence disease - freeseed potatoesobtained from a catalog or farm entrepot . ( Grocery store potatoes that have been treated with a sprout - retardant are not desirable for plant . ) If you buy from a farm store , as I do , try out to choose tubers which have already bourgeon . Otherwise , pre - sprout them by simply laying them out on your kitchen counter . Pre - sprouted potatoes can be harvested a few hebdomad earlier than their non - sprouted kin .
Step 2: Separate the Eyes
Only small , golf ball - sized tater should be planted whole .
Cut large tubers into pieces . I cut mine so that each segment has two or three " eyes " ( the fiddling bumps from which sprouts come forth , as shown in the exposure ) . The reason for cutting the potatoes is because the many eye on a turgid potato will create a crowded , multi - cauline flora , with each shank vie for food for thought and wet , and in the end , bear only small white potato vine .
Step 3: Cure the Cut Pieces
Next , " remedy " the cut of meat pieces . Either set up them out in the sun , or place them on a table or counter in a affectionate ( about 70 ° F ) , moderately light way for three to five days . This step permits the cuts to become calloused . Calloused seed potato will help forestall hogwash .
Step 4: How & When to Plant Potatoes
Plant ejaculate potato section cut - side down ( eye up ) in a 6 - inch - deep trap or trench . outer space each segment 12 - in aside on all side .
Between each segment , sprinkle 2 tablespoons of a abject - nitrogen , high - phosphoric fertilizer . Then cover both potatoes and fertilizer with 2 - inches of ground , and water the soil well .
When do you plant potatoes?
This will vary reckon on where you hold up . Gardeners in warm clime often implant around Valentine ’s Day , while those in cool areas may get them into the ground near Easter , or former springiness . A good normal of thumb is to aim for 3 - 4 weeks prior to your last hoar date .
Step 5: Hill Around the Stems
Because new murphy form on lateral stems , or " stolons " above the seed potato , it ’s necessary to " hill " the vines . When the green sprouts reach 8 inches in height , bury all but their top 4 inches with soil , chopped straw , or shredded leaves . Hill again when potato plant uprise another 8 inch . The more you hill , the more prolific your harvest is likely to be . I usually hill mine to a height of 18 inches . Stop hill when the vine bloom .
Potato tubers , like vampires , call for to be in shadow . In fact , they will change by reversal unripened if discover to light . And a unripe white potato vine can cause sickness if consumed . Therefore it is dead all important to keep the tubers covered with territory or mulch .
Step 6: How & When to Harvest Potatoes
Two week after the vines have flowered , you’re able to , if you wish , hand into the soil or mulch and retrieve a few baby potatoes . Otherwise , waitress until the vine die back . drained vine indicate that the Tuber have reached matureness . Now reach into the dirt with your hands and pull the tuber up .
How farsighted do white potato take to grow?Small Modern potato can be ready as early as ten weeks . However , full sized potatoes take about 80 - 100 days to get through matureness .
Step 7: Store Your Potatoes
Since my potatoes are grown for storage , I forget them in the reason until cool weather arrive . Why ? Because potatoes will only store well if they are placed somewhere frigid , but not freezing . The wardrobe in my mudroom does n’t cool off until the outside temperature plunges to 45 ° at night . So harvest time for me is normally a sunny day in late October .
After digging the Tuber , I let them seat on top of theraised bedsfor a few hour to dry , as illustrated . This brief drying - period toughens their skin , and prepares them for entrepot . Then I gently brush off any loose soil from the tubers , and set them in double thicknesses of composition pocketbook .
More white potato uprise tips :
Preventing Potato Blight
The fearsome fungal disease know as the " potato blight ” ( Phytophthora infestans ) was responsible for the Irish white potato dearth and can destroy your entire craw , too . To reduce the chance of contagion , never plant potato ( or tomatoes and other members of the nightshade family , such as mad apple or chili peppers ) in the same patch of res publica without leaving an musical interval of at least three years . Also , promptly remove any volunteer potatoes that emerge in your garden . The disease overwinters in tubers entrust behind during the previous year ’s harvest .
