One Potato, Two Potato

Have you been curious about growing potatoes? They’re a fairly easy to grow crop if you have some basic tips and know how. Best part? You don’t need a ton of space… and you don’t need to dig a trench or any other labor-intensive prep. I’ll give you my tips on easy peasy potatoes so you can get started and enjoy some super tasty, buttery home gown spuds.

Typically, I plant my potatoes two to three weeks before our last frost date. It can be tempting to plant them earlier as the days warm up but potatoes will rot when planted in cold soil or soil that is still too wet from spring thaws. For this reason, it’s best to wait for the soil to warm up. This will also help them sprout quicker and reduce the weather-related stress on them. Like people, plants flourish when they’re not stressed. Depending on the year, my seed potatoes go in in around late April to early May. As a reminder, I’m in zone 5b but at a higher elevation so it’s a bit colder than the rest of MA.

I recommend starting potatoes from seed potatoes not from store bought potatoes sold for eating. Seed potatoes are bred for the purpose of growing potatoes. They are certified disease-free opal that you’re not introducing blight or any other problems into your garden. Potatoes from a store that are sold for eating are often treated with sprout inhibitor, or are grown with chemicals or pesticides... unless of course yours are certified organic. Your yields will also be higher from seed potatoes. Long story short: Can you grow potatoes from grocery store potatoes. Sure. The outcome is hit or miss and can have unfortunate ramifications for the rest of your garden so proceed with caution if you try.

You can plant seed potatoes whole or if they’re gargantuan seed potatoes, you can cut the larger ones. Just make sure to leave at least two “eyes” in each piece you cut. You’ll also want to use a clean, sharp knife and cut the day before planting. Leave your cut pieces in a cool space overnight so they can callus before planting. This will help prevent infection from soil contacting the raw potato flesh. I usually just plant mine whole to minimize damage, pests, worms, and also because it’s just plain easier.

Let’s talk soil. Potatoes are fairly simple in needs. They want loose soil that holds moisture but drains well.  While they do tend to adapt to non-ideal conditions, consistently soggy soil will rot them pretty quickly... and adding manure that isn’t aged enough will activate a pathogen “scab,” which makes them pretty ugly, although they will still be edible. 

You can plant potatoes in the ground, which is obviously the way it’s been done since my ancestors grew them in Ireland. You’ll need to dig a shallow trench 6-8 inches deep. Place the seed potatoes 8-16 inches apart in the trench (depends on the type of potato). Give yourself enough space between rows to make hilling easier. Cover them with 3-4 inches of soil. When the potato plant grows about 8 inches high, bring the soil up covering the plant up, leaving the top couple inches exposed. You’ll need to continue this process a couple more times, every few weeks, taking care not to expose the potatoes growing under the soil. You need a bit of space, and quite frankly, hoeing isn’t my thing. Much like raking, it’s kind of a pain in the derrière if you ask me. So... I do not plant potatoes in the ground. I plant exclusively in bags.

I have purchased grow bags that are made from a thick BPA-free polypropylene that allows good drainage. You can use the fabric shopping bags, burlap bags, grain bags, or make your own with thick felt. Either way, you’ll want it to be at least 16 inches tall and hold about 50 quarts of soil. One year the hubs made a stackable potato bin for me as you can see in the picture. Cool concept and looks nicer than random bags. There are several 3” layers that I stack on top to add soil. The downfall? I can’t harvest as easy as I can with a bag, so I’m not a huge fan of it.

Back to bags! To get started, roll down the sides of your bag to make it only about 8” tall. Fill the bottom with 3-4 inches of a soil/compost mix. Plop in your seed potatoes, eyes up. I usually only add 4-5 per bag depending on the size of the bag. Top with enough soil mix to cover them. No sun, remember. Keep them evenly moist but not soggy. As the greens grow, unroll the bag a few inches and add soil to cover, leaving just the top few inches exposed. Do this until you’ve completely unrolled the bag. Now, just wait for them to flower and die back keeping them moist until they start to die. 

Your spuds will be ready to harvest when the plants die back and lose most of their color. The plant will look pretty sad and you’ll start to worry as it’s happening. Fear not! Unless you’re growing in a frost, or have visible pests on the plants (like pesky potato bugs), the die back of leaves and stalk means your potatoes are almost ready! Cut back the ugly, brown plant a couple weeks before harvest and don’t water.  If your scheduled to get heavy rain or lots of it, move the bag under some shelter or put something on top to prevent them from getting watered. This will toughen the skins for good storage. 

You can do a little test to see if they’re ready by digging in and pulling one out. The skin should be thick and firmly attached to the flesh. If you can rub the skin off easily, leave the rest of the potatoes in the soil for a few more days. To harvest, simply tip the bag over and voila! Potatoes! Since you’ve stopped watering, the bag shouldn’t be too heavy so I like to put my bag in my wheel barrow and empty it there. This makes clean up easier and I’m all about making things easier in the garden.

After harvesting, don’t leave your freshly unearthed potatoes in the sun. This can turn them green and will give them a bitter taste. More importantly eating green potatoes will make you hug the porcelain God, or possibly poop your pants and no one wants that! Back to the point though... harvesting. Once you’ve removed your taters from the soil, brush them off. Don’t wash them, even though you’ll be tempted to. Washing reduces storage life and encourages mold. If you’re going to eat them right away, by all means, wash. Otherwise, you need to cure them by letting them sit in a cool dark place (45-65 degrees) for a couple weeks to harden the skins. 

I hope you give growing potatoes a try. It’s super easy! Bags are definitely the way to go in my opinion but you do you. If you’ve got the space, a hoe, and don’t mind hilling, grow them the traditional way. Either way works, just pick the one that will work best for you. 

Until next time…

Dream Big, Plant Love, and Grow Where You’re Planted

XOXO - Laurie