Potatoes Growing Guide
Growing Guides › Potatoes Growing Guide
Planting Potatoes
- You can start planting your seed potatoes 2 weeks after the last spring frost.
- Choose a planting spot in full sun and well-drained, loose soil.
- Be sure to spade or loosen the soil extremely well. Potatoes will not grow in hard or compact soil.
- Place the tubers with the sprouts facing up in shallow trenches 15 cm (6 in) wide, space them 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 in) apart, and cover with 8 cm (3 in) of soil.
- Water thoroughly after planting
Growing Potatoes
- Potatoes need consistent moisture, so water regularly when tubers start to form.
- As soon as the shoots appear, earth up each plant by covering it with a ridge of soil so that the shoots are just buried.
- You need to do this at regular intervals and by the end of the season each plant will have a small mound around it about 15 cm (6 in) high.
Care Potatoes
- You can harvest potatoes in stages - “young” or “early” potatoes should be ready about 10 weeks after planting (when the flowers appear). Take a few without pulling up the stems, and leave others to continue growing into full-sized potatoes.
- For storage of full-sized potatoes, wait until the foliage turns yellow, then cut and remove. Leave for 10 days before harvesting the tubers.
- After harvesting, leave the tubers on the soil surface for a few hours to dry.
- Once dry store them in a dark, cool but frost free place.
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