Potatoes are edible tubers, available worldwide and all year long. They are relatively cheap to grow, rich in nutrients, and they can make a delicious treat.
What You Need to Know About Potatoes
Growing a successful potato garden will depend on your location, but the general conditions are just a few degrees below freezing in the morning and at least 10°C (50°F) in the afternoon. Temperatures over 25°C (77°F) also are not advisable. Potatoes can be planted outdoors or grown under glass for the best conditions. If you wish to try growing them outdoors, you need to prepare the soil before planting, ideally by mixing fertilizer, compost, and peat moss in and adding organic matter such as peat moss or shredded coconut shells. Watering is best done early in the morning, when soil and leaves are still damp. Once the potatoes are dug, they can also be covered with a thin layer of soil until the weather is warmer.
Planning Your Garden
Good garden planning is critical to a successful potato garden. Don't build the garden where you have room for only one potato plant. Instead, build the garden in an area that will allow room for a potato harvest. In planting the garden, position a pot or raised bed near enough to a window or skylight so that you can look at the growing plants. It's important that you make sure your garden is situated so that the sun is able to enter. Planting near windows or skylights allows your plants to be in a sunny spot as well as one that receives some light from the window or skylight. Growing Your Potato Plants Potatoes are planted from seed. Some gardeners grow a potato variety for their tubers and others grow a variety of plants to eat as plants.
Planting the Seed
To start, you need to decide whether you want to grow your own seed potatoes or buy some from a retailer. Some seed potatoes come in seed potatoes, which you need to plant in the spring and overwinter them in the ground, while other seed potatoes come in half-bushels or bags, which you can buy in the summer and plant in the fall. It’s fine to do a little bit of both. One of the biggest reasons to grow your own potatoes is that they taste better. Growing seed potatoes saves you the trouble of waiting for a fresh shipment of produce, and they will save you money in the long run as well. The key is to check out the variety of seed potatoes your local retailer has and pick out the ones you think are the best.
Fertilizing Your Potatoes
As with many vegetables, potatoes do best when fertilized about a month before they're to be harvested. Since they aren't quite as resistant to diseases as, say, tomatoes, it's essential to fertilize your tubers in order to provide the best environment for your plants. Fertilize every four to five weeks until harvest. This will provide your potatoes with the necessary nutrients to grow, including phosphorous, potassium and calcium. Additionally, it is very important to allow your plants to grow a good amount of roots before you begin harvesting. This will ensure that your potatoes will grow the best possible quality of spud. How to Keep Potatoes Healthy Healthy plants are vital for a healthy harvest.
Harvesting Your Crop
When harvesting your crop, pick the new potatoes that are the smallest in size. This will leave the largest portion of the tuber for potato salad or mashed potatoes. Begin digging potatoes with a potato-digging stick, which helps you dig a deep trench at the base of each tuber. Sometimes the small potato-tuber can be filled out with the base of the root, while other times it can be deeper than the stick. Allow the soil to dry off for a few hours, before leaving the base of the plant in the planting hole. When cutting the plants, choose the largest tuber you can find. If a smaller tuber has grown from the base of the plant, it can be cut at that spot. If a larger tuber is the result of a harvest, it can be cut at any point.
Conclusion
Potatoes are versatile crops and can grow in almost any climate. Some varieties are best planted in small quantities for short periods of time, and some need a frost free environment. The varieties listed in this article, from seeds, to sprouting, to tubers, and the best varieties to plant, are all great choices for a successful potato garden. While you're here, be sure to sign up for the free seeds and the ebooks.