Potatoes are a garden staple, versatile in the kitchen and rewarding to grow at home. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just starting out, understanding How To Plant Potatoes correctly is the first step towards a bountiful harvest. This guide provides a comprehensive approach to planting potatoes, ensuring success from seed to spud.
Choosing the Right Seed Potatoes
The journey to homegrown potatoes begins with selecting the right seed potatoes. These aren’t seeds in the traditional sense, but rather pieces of potato tubers, each with at least one or two “eyes” or buds. These eyes are where new potato shoots will emerge.
When choosing seed potatoes, prioritize certified disease-free varieties from reputable sources. This ensures you’re starting with healthy stock, minimizing the risk of introducing diseases to your garden. Consider the type of potato you enjoy eating – Russets for baking, Yukon Golds for all-purpose use, or colorful varieties like fingerlings or red potatoes for salads and roasting.
Popular potato varieties for home gardens include:
- Russet Burbank: A classic baking potato, known for its fluffy texture.
- Yukon Gold: A versatile, all-purpose potato with a creamy texture and buttery flavor.
- Red Pontiac: An early-maturing red potato, excellent for boiling and salads.
- Fingerling Potatoes (e.g., Russian Banana): Small, elongated potatoes with a unique flavor and texture, great for roasting and salads.
Preparing Seed Potatoes for Planting
Once you’ve selected your seed potatoes, preparation is key. If your seed potatoes are large (roughly the size of a tennis ball or bigger), you can cut them into pieces to maximize your planting material. Each piece should be at least 2 inches square and contain at least two eyes.
Use a clean, sharp knife to cut the potatoes a few days before planting. This allows the cut surfaces to suberize or “callus over,” which helps prevent rot and disease when planted in the soil. Store the cut pieces in a cool, dry, and humid place to encourage callusing.
For smaller seed potatoes, or if you’re concerned about pests or potential rot, you can plant them whole. Planting whole seed potatoes can be particularly beneficial in gardens prone to wireworms or other soil-borne pests that are attracted to the exposed flesh of cut potatoes.
When to Plant Potatoes: Timing is Key
Timing is crucial for successful potato planting. Planting too early in cold, waterlogged soil can lead to seed potato rot. However, planting too late may result in a shorter growing season and reduced yields.
The ideal time to plant potatoes is generally two to three weeks before your average last frost date in spring. Soil temperature is a better indicator than calendar dates. Potatoes thrive in soil temperatures above 45°F (7°C). Warmer soil encourages faster emergence and vigorous growth.
In many northern regions, late March to early May is a suitable planting window. Gardeners in warmer southern climates can often plant potatoes in late fall or early winter for a winter or early spring harvest.
Local cues from nature can also be helpful. Some gardeners use the melting snow on mountains or the blooming of dandelions as indicators that it’s time to plant potatoes. Consult local gardening resources or experienced gardeners in your area for specific timing advice.
Preparing the Soil for Planting Potatoes
Potatoes are relatively adaptable but thrive in loose, well-drained soil rich in organic matter. Ideal soil is a sandy loam that retains moisture while draining excess water. Good drainage is essential to prevent potato rot.
Soil preparation should ideally begin in the fall before spring planting. Incorporate plenty of compost or well-rotted manure into the planting area. This improves soil structure, drainage, and fertility. Avoid using fresh manure, as it can increase the risk of potato scab, a common disease that blemishes potato skins, though the potatoes remain edible.
If you don’t have access to composted manure, a balanced organic fertilizer can be used. Look for a fertilizer with a lower nitrogen content (e.g., 4-2-2) to encourage tuber development rather than excessive leafy growth. Too much nitrogen can lead to large potato plants with fewer potatoes underneath.
Planting Potatoes: Step-by-Step Guide
Once your soil is prepared and your seed potatoes are ready, it’s time to plant.
- Dig Trenches: Create shallow trenches that are 6-8 inches deep. The length of your trenches will depend on the number of potatoes you’re planting and your garden layout.
- Space Seed Potatoes: Place the seed potato pieces or whole small potatoes in the trenches, spacing them 10-12 inches apart for cut pieces and 12-16 inches apart for larger, whole seed potatoes. For smaller varieties like fingerlings, you can reduce spacing slightly to 8 inches.
- Row Spacing: Ensure adequate spacing between rows, ideally around 36 inches. Wider spacing makes hilling easier later in the season.
- Cover with Soil: Cover the seed potatoes with about 3-4 inches of soil, leaving the trench partially filled.
Proper spacing is crucial when planting potatoes to ensure each plant has enough room to grow and produce a good yield. This image shows potato plants in a raised bed, highlighting the recommended distance between plants.
Hilling Potatoes: A Key Technique for Increased Yields
Hilling is a critical step in potato cultivation. It involves gradually mounding soil around the potato plants as they grow. Hilling serves several important purposes:
- Encourages Tuber Development: Potatoes develop tubers (the edible potatoes) along the underground stem. Hilling increases the length of the stem that is buried, leading to more tuber production.
- Protects Developing Tubers: Hilling prevents developing potatoes from being exposed to sunlight, which can cause them to turn green and produce solanine, a toxic compound.
- Weed Control: Hilling helps suppress weeds around the potato plants.
- Improved Drainage: Hilled rows improve drainage around the potato roots.
How to Hill Potatoes:
- First Hilling: When potato plants reach about 8-10 inches tall, it’s time for the first hilling. Using a rake or hoe, gently draw soil up around the base of the plants from both sides of the row.
- Cover Stems: Aim to cover the lower part of the stems, leaving only the top leaves exposed. This encourages tuber formation along the buried stem.
- Second Hilling (Optional): Two to three weeks after the first hilling, perform a second hilling, adding another 2-4 inches of soil around the plants.
Instead of a second hilling with soil, you can also apply a mulch, such as straw or composted leaves, around the plants. Mulching helps retain soil moisture, suppress weeds, and regulate soil temperature. Straw mulch is particularly beneficial as it allows the soil to breathe and provides good air circulation.
Hilling potatoes with straw is an effective organic gardening practice. The straw acts as a mulch, conserving moisture, suppressing weeds, and keeping the soil cool, all of which contribute to healthy potato growth.
Harvesting Potatoes: New Potatoes and Mature Potatoes
Potatoes can be harvested at different stages, depending on your preference.
New Potatoes: For tender, thin-skinned “new potatoes,” you can begin harvesting a few weeks after the potato plants flower. Gently dig around the sides of the plants and carefully remove some of the smaller, immature potatoes, leaving the rest to mature. Waxy potato varieties like ‘Yukon Gold’ and ‘All Red’ are particularly well-suited for harvesting as new potatoes.
Mature Potatoes: For mature potatoes intended for storage, wait until the potato vines die back and turn brown in late summer or early fall. This indicates that the potatoes have reached full maturity and their skins have thickened for better storage. You can mow down the vines a few weeks before harvest to further toughen the potato skins.
Harvest mature potatoes on a dry day. Carefully dig up the potatoes, being mindful not to bruise or damage them. After harvesting, allow the potatoes to cure in a dark, well-ventilated place for a few days to further toughen the skins before storing them in a cool, dark, and humid environment.
By following these steps on how to plant potatoes, you’ll be well on your way to enjoying a delicious and rewarding homegrown potato harvest. Happy gardening!
