Potatoes are a curious plant for many first time gardeners. While they can technically be grown from seeds, almost everyone who ever grows them grows them from seed potatoes. Additionally, while your potatoes from the grocery store might sport roots, they are often treated by the companies selling them to prevent you from growing your own potatoes at home. As with many plants, it’s best to start with seed potatoes from a reputable purveyor or local nursery.
Potato Details
- Family: Solanaceae
- Growing Season: Spring or fall
- Growing Zones: 3 through 10, choose a variety that is fit to your specific zone
- Spacing: 12-18 inches (30-46 cm) apart
- Seed to Harvest time: 70-120 days
- Indoor Starting: Not recommended for transplanting, but can be grown fully indoors.
- Earliest Planting: 1-2 weeks before the last frost.
- Watering: Keep soil moist, but never wet. Do not over water.
- Sunlight Requirements: Full sun, at least 6 hours per day.
- Planting: Seed potatoes should be planted in trenches 6-8 inches deep. Seed potatoes can be divided so long as each piece has an “eye” to grow from. Eyes should be facing up when planting. As the potatoes grow cover the bases more and more, mounding soil on to keep potatoes from seeing the sun which makes them go green.
- Weeding: Weed daily where possible. Mulch heavily to prevent new weeds while mounding around your plants.
- Harvesting: Potatoes are ready to harvest when the plants begin to flower, but for longer storage harvest once the leaves start to yellow and dry out. Harvest by simply digging up the potatoes with a shovel or garden fork, being careful to not cut or pierce the potatoes.
- Known Pests: Potato beetle, use BT. Aphids, use insecticidal soap or introduce predatory insects where permissible.
More About Potatoes:
Potatoes are an amazing food, but they also harbor a terrible poison. Potatoes that are allows to grow exposed to sunlight will turn green and are poisonous. Discard any green potatoes you dig up. Similarly if you let the plant go to fruit it will grow tomato like fruits. These are also poisonous and should never be eaten.
For more about potatoes we have a more highly detailed explanation of their lifecycle here.
Potato Tasting and Food Notes
Potatoes are one of the greatest foods known to mankind. They are rich, starchy, and delicious. They pair well with any savory dish and they absorb other flavors incredibly well. They are fantastic in soups and stews as they add a tender and warm vehicle for flavor. They can be roasted, boiled, or pan fried.
Potatoes really shine when deep fried though. French fries are perhaps one of the most eaten foods the world over and simply taste amazing. Potatoes can also be spiraled and deep fried on a stick to create these thin flaky layers that salt and butter can settle into. In short, potatoes are a perfect root vegetable.
We could talk about potatoes forever, but you more than likely have encountered them in everyday food all over the place, and if you haven’t, we need you to stop reading this right now and go get some french fries.
Should I Grow Potatoes In My Garden?
Potatoes, as wonderful as they are are not for every gardener. They require a bit more work than other plants as you need to continually mound soil around them as they grow. Harvesting them can also be a lot of work depending on many you grow. If you’re not afraid of a little extra labor though, potatoes are the perfect way to get more calories out of your homestead garden. If you grow enough and store them properly you can easily have enough to eat for the whole year round!