It’s a bit early for potatoes, but the weather’s been great and I decided to put some in the ground. I’ll save some for April/May and “chit” them — let them sprout a bit in a sunny window before cutting and planting them.
For this planting, I purchased some seed potatoes from a garden store. They say not to plant potatoes from the grocer, because they aren’t certified “disease free.” Pictured here are Yukon Golds, a red potato whose name I can’t remember, and some fingerling potatoes. The fingerlings I left alone — these little guys weigh just a few ounces and have plenty of eyes, perfect for planting. For the large potatoes, I cut into pieces with 2 or 3 eyes each.
I dropped each seed shallowly in the soil and covered with loose compost. Once the vines sprout and grow, I’ll “hill” them up — that is, mound dirt up around the vines — to encourage potatoes to grow in that mounded earth. I planting them a little bit more shallow this year, so we’ll see what happens and maybe I’ll adjust my strategy for the second planting.
Why plant potatoes? They’re so cheap after all. I do it for two reasons: 1. Home grown potatoes are delicious and are a good opportunity to bring carbs to the home-grown table, and 2. They are the most fun vegetable to harvest. It’s like digging for buried treasure.
The results from this potato planting method were underwhelming. I didn’t get the yields I wanted and ended up with many very small potatoes (will make great seed for next year). I think the lesson is: plant deeper (sorry Steve Solomon) and spread plants apart more.