Whether your preference may be Modern potatoes topped with butter , or chip , roasties , and slow - baked jacket of perfection , chance are that the white potato features relatively heavily in your diet . While preserve money is one reason to turn your own , gardener lean to get most excited about the outlook of harvesting multiple variety that can not be bought in store . Plus , having enough of your own supply of this kitchen staple fiber to feed you throughout the year will give you a sense of intellectual nourishment security that can not be beaten !
Growing Potatoes: A Quick Snapshot
When to Sow – N / A
When to Plant – Mar - May
When to Harvest – May - October
Average fruit per plant life – 2 - 3 kilo
Spacing – 30 - 45 cm
Depth – 10 atomic number 96
How to Grow Potatoes at Home
Not only are murphy gentle to grow , but they take up a surprisingly small amount of space , especially conceive their yield . Grow them in the ground , in raised beds , in bag , or in buckets – whichever you choose , cope with the following grow experimental condition and you ’ll be plunk your own potatoes in just a few months !
Growing Requirements for Potatoes
Irish potato do best when they havefull Sunday , meaning around 6 - 8 hour of sun a sidereal day . Although their roots like to stay cool , potatoes should be originate in a frost - gratis locating .
When it comes to the secure case of soil for growing potatoes , aim for light , loose , and deep . If possible , enrich your murphy growing area the season before embed with plenty of well - rotted animal manure . However , this is n’t strictly necessary – even if your soil is sonorous and short character , you’re able to still plant your murphy on the surface and then mound them up with quality compost . More on this later !
How to Grow Potatoes from Seed
Potato germ are refer to asseed potatoes . This is because , unlike most other plants , potatoes do n’t really mature from seeds . rather , they arise from sections of the tubers themselves .
Potatoes that you ’ve bought from the supermarket can be used as source potatoes . However , for the big and tastiest harvests , look for white potato that are being sell specifically to be used as seed . This will give you access to a mind - boggle array of varieties , which is what you want for the longest harvesting period .
Chitting Potatoes
Chitting basically means pre - germinate your seed potatoes . It ’s not a must – in fact , the yield conflict between chitted and non - chitted murphy ( those that have been planted without proper sprouts ) is minimal . However , many gardeners chance that chitting gives them a principal - start on the growing time of year , tolerate them to harvest a little earlier .
Chitting can be done up to six weeks before planting .
Place your cum potatoes into egg cartons or trays – anything that will hold them steady . Arrange them so that the end with the most eyes ( those niggling indents where the shoot will get from ) are facing upwards . Keep the potatoes in a cool but bright place – you want those sprouts to be strong and sturdy , rather than watery and lank .
If you recover yourself wishing that you had purchased more source murphy , there ’s a style to get around this …
Take a few of the seed potatoes that you already have and cut them into sections . Each section need to have at least one eye , so that it can grow shoot . Then , give them for about three days , so that the cutting off side can dry out out , before either chitting as above or planting straight out .
How to Plant Potatoes Outside
As mentioned , you ’ve got a few different selection when it comes to planting potatoes outside . Here ’s how each one works :
How to Plant Potatoes in a Trench in the Ground
The most common way of planting potato is to dig a trench that ’s about 10 cm deep , and then place your seed potatoes into this . Position them so that the eye / sprouts are facing up , space each potato about 30 cm ( for early varieties ) or 45 cm ( for main varieties ) apart .
Then , cover your potatoes back over with grunge and water supply well .
How to Plant Potatoes on the Surface of Your Soil
Raised beds are a good alternative for those who do n’t have salutary soil , but you’re able to also try on the no - excavation method . To do this , weed your growing areaand then , if you want , tally a slender layer of compost . put your murphy onto the open of your dirt , spacingearly miscellany 30 atomic number 96 apart and main harvest varieties 45 cm apart .
Then , cover your potatoes over . you’re able to either utilise compost to do this , or chaff . The advantage to using straw is that it ’s relatively inexpensive and harvesting is much easy and cleaner . However , if you ’re establish your potatoes ahead of time in the season , then the straw may not offer enough frost protection . In this sheath , you may be adept off covering your potatoes over withcompost , but then exchange to straw when earthing up ( more on this later on ! ) .
drive for a cover that ’s about10 - 15 centimeter thick(go fatheaded if you ’re using stalk instead of compost ) , and then water well .
If you ’ve used straw and you live in a windy locating , you may require to repose some fleece over the top of your straw to get with , to prevent it from shove off out . However , this is only necessary in exceptionally windy country – so long as you keep your straw damp , it should stay in plaza .
How to Plant Potatoes in Bags
If you ’re short on growing space or good quality stain , then potatoes do well in grow bags too . The main downside to this method acting is the price – calibre grow bags can end up being quite expensive , especially if you need several of them .
If you do n’t require to fling on grow bags , consider canvass shopping bags instead . Do n’t use plastic – this will heat up too much , foreclose the Tuber from growing decently .
satisfy the bags with about 20 centimetre of soil , and then place your spud over the top of this . Do n’t be tempted to institute too many in each suitcase – this will only result in very small potatoes . The size of the bags you ’re using will limit how many potatoes you should plant – get for about two cum spud in an average - sized canvas shopping travelling bag .
Then , plow your tater over with about 10 cm of compost and water well .
How to Plant Potatoes in Buckets
Large bucket - character containers work well for growing white potato . In kernel , these work just like grow bag or a rear bed , with the primary difference being that buckets are usually smaller . While this may entail small harvests , buckets are still a expectant option for people that are short on place .
How to Plant Potatoes in a Greenhouse
If you ’ve got blank space in your greenhouse bed to grow a few spud plants , then this is definitely worth doing . The extra warmth and protection provided bya greenhousewill mean that you could implant your potatoes out earlier in the year , giving you an earlier harvest . Many also plant glasshouse potatoes at the end of summertime / early in the autumn – keep them frost - free over the winter and you ’ll be harvest home potatoes at the jump of the year !
Raised beds be given to bid the best yields , ca-ca it deserving produce a deep one dedicate to potatoes . Alternatively , if you ’re short on quad in your greenhouse , grow them as described above in bags or buckets .
How to Care for Potatoes
Potatoes do require a morsel of oeuvre , but this is gentle and does n’t take much time . Plus , your drive will be more than worth it when you add up to harvest your plants .
Watering Potatoes
Potatoes necessitate about 5 - 8 curium of body of water a week . The grime that they ’re develop in should never be allowed to dry out . If it does , this will pretend your harvest time .
Rainfall may furnish a proficient amount of water to outdoor - grown potatoes , but prospect are that you ’ll still need to top this up . When you do , water deeply , especially if the conditions has been peculiarly hot and dry .
Keep in creative thinker that potatoes grown in bags or bucket , as well as those in a greenhouse , will dry out much faster , mean more frequent watering sessions will be needed .
Earthing Up
Your seed white potato will produce shoot , which will acquire longer over the next few hebdomad . As they raise , you ’ll require to keep cover them up . These shoots are where the tubers acquire from – if you give them exposed , then not only are they more potential to finish up with frost scathe , but the white potato vine themselves will reverse light-green from the brightness , which makes them dangerous to eat .
You ’ll take to earth up your Irish potato a few clock time as they grow . The more you do so , the well your crop will be , butalways ensure that the shoots are about 20 curium above the surface of the land before earth up .
How you earth your potatoes up will depend on how you ’re produce them :
Feeding Potatoes
Although not necessary if your soil was already enriched with organic matter , reach your Irish potato some feed can help to better their growth . Since solution maturation is what you require to concentrate on , take care for a fertiliser that moderate gamy levels of potassium and orthophosphate . apply this every 2 - 4 weeks .
How to Harvest Potatoes
expect for a ironic day before glean your Irish potato .
If you ’re originate them in the ground , you may demand to usea garden forkto loose the land around them and then lift them out of the earth . However , be careful when doing this – it ’s frustratingly easygoing to accidentally pierce the tuber with the crotch while you ’re dig out around in there .
If you planted your seed potatoes on the surface of the soil and earthed them up with compost or straw , then you may be capable to just lift them out with your hands .
Bags and buckets hold potatoes should be gently tipped upside down and emptied onto a soft and juiceless control surface . you’re able to then assort through the soil with your hand and pick out your potatoes .
When to Harvest Potatoes
Harvesting potatoes is easy , but before you actually do so , make certain that you ’re harvesting them at the proper time .
How to Store Potatoes
Potatoes need to be store somewhere dry , dark , and well - vent . This gives you quite a few unlike store selection :
How to Prepare & Cook Potatoes
Early Irish potato variety show have a very thin pelt . These only require a quick clean before they ’re ready to apply . Do n’t scrub at the skins too firmly , as they ’ll only end up tearing .
Maincrop form have a much thicker skin . If the skin is n’t something that you delight , peel it off before wash out your potato and then get up as necessitate . If you ’d choose to keep the skin on , not only for grain but also extra alimentation , then give your spud a beneficial scouring under running H2O to remove any crap .
There are hundreds of unlike ways to cook potatoes , but a few favourites from around the world are :
Common Potato Problems
There are a few white potato pests and diseases that you ’ll need to keep an heart out for :
Popular Potato Varieties to Grow
There are literally thousands of potato variety show out there , and each one has its own unparalleled characteristics when it make out to color , soma , size , development habit , and so much more .
As you already know , varieties are usually categorised by how long they take to produce . Early variety show are quick in just 10 weeks . They ’re loved for their sparse skin and fragile texture , but this also stand for that they do n’t store well . While maincrop varieties take about 20 workweek to senesce , these are what your largest harvest should lie of if you design on storing them long - term .
However , even if retentive - terminal figure storage is your aim , it ’s still a good idea to grow plant life from each of the dissimilar categories to cover your harvesting period of time , while also give you the luck to taste so many more flavours .
Some of the practiced varieties to originate are :
Conclusion
One seed potato could produce more than ten Tuber of its own , with these heavy yields making white potato such a rewarding veggie to develop . prefer the right-hand varieties and store your harvests aright and you ’ll never have to grease one’s palms another supermarket potato again !
How utile was this berth ?
select a star to rate it !
As you find this Emily Price Post utilitarian …
