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| Photo Credit: Mary Moore |
| There are so many different potatoes to grow, from the starchy Russets and creamy Yukon Golds to the many delicious red-skinned varieties. |
Potatoes are an incredibly versatile vegetable. They’re easy to grow and delicious to eat – in every one of the countless ways to prepare them. And there are so many varieties to try! Creamy, starchy, red, white and even blue – there’s bound to be one perfect for just about any recipe you dream up.
The good news is you can grow them all! You just need a little background on the kinds of potatoes out there and how long they take to grow. Short-season potatoes, like Yukon Gold or Onaway, take 70-90 days to mature; mid-season potatoes, like Carola, take 90-110 days; and long-season potatoes, like Russets, take 110-135 days. To start, you’ll need to get your gardening gloves on some seed potatoes in the variety you want to grow. Despite the name, “seed potatoes” aren’t really seeds – they’re just small potatoes. You can purchase them from a potato seed company, a seed catalog or at your local hardware store. My favorite way to start these veggies is to plant the seed potatoes in small containers in good potting soil or in a light compost/peat mix and allow them to sprout in my garage until the last frost has passed. Then I transplant the little sprouts into my vegetable bed. (Of course, you can also store your seed potatoes on a cool, dark shelf inside your garage or in a similar space and plant them directly into your garden after the last frost, but I prefer to get a head start on the season.)
Potatoes prefer a sunny location and grow best in light soil amended with compost and fertilizer that doesn’t contain a lot of nitrogen (which can cause root rot). To amend your soil, loosen it with a gardening fork (like a shovel, but has tongs like a fork), then mix in amendments like compost. Use manure sparingly because of the added nitrogen.
If you’ve got difficult soil, it may be easier to build raised beds and grow your potatoes in them rather than preparing your existing soil. You can buy prefabricated kits, build a raised bed using flat boards or even use cardboard boxes. After your raised bed is constructed, fill it with a light mixture of compost, peat moss and sand. I prefer to add a little aged chicken manure to fertilize the bed instead of cow manure. (I find processed chicken manure products are easier to work with, and I noticed my plants produced more potatoes when I changed over to it. I also use an even fertilizer, like a 10-10-10.)
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| Warnings |
- Always buy certified potato seed! Potatoes are susceptible to blights, which will rot the potatoes and live in your soil for years. If you suspect potato blight, contact your local Cooperative Extension office to find out how to test and treat your soil.
- Be sure to add another layer of soil and mulch on top of your potatoes once they reach about 10 inches tall. If your potatoes grow exposed to the sun, they’ll begin to photosynthesize and could produce a toxin that’ll make you sick. Also, be sure to toss out any green potatoes.
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| Tips |
- Potatoes are members of the nightshade family. Other edible relatives in this family include tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. When rotating plantings in your garden, do not plant one nightshade member where another was planted the year before.
- You can plant either whole seed potatoes to start your plants, or you can cut your potato into two or three pieces and allow the potato to dry and sprout a little before planting. Each piece should have at least one “eye” because that’s where the sprout starts. (I prefer to plant whole small potatoes because they’re less likely to rot or develop fungal problems from the open wounds.) If you want to allow the whole potato to pre-sprout before planting, that’s OK, too.
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| Resources |
- There are a number of great catalogs that supply a wide variety of potatoes, but one of my favorite places to buy certified potato seed is at a country hardware store in the next town over. I can examine each seed potato, and the prices are much better than the catalogs. Look up hardware or seed stores in your county, and call to see if they carry potato seed.
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