Growing potatoes

I'm planting on a much smaller scale than FarmerDill and heycharlie, but I do plant mine 12 to 18 inches apart in a wide row. Remember that you'll be hilling them. Because of the hilling, I don't stick my spare lettuces and herbs around the bed like I do in crops that don't need hilling (everything except taters and leeks).

I just started doing a diary (with pictures) on how I plant mine, will post more as the season goes on.

http://davesgarden.com/journal/ed/index.php?tabid=2511

Nice pics, Big Red.
I am more like Zeppy. I have a 4' x 12' raised garden bed.
I just cut up the larger seed potatoes at work today to dry. So hopefully I can plant on Sunday.
But love the pics and ideas, guys. Thanks. Carol

I just planted mine. I think I may have made a bad mistake though.
I put them in the furrow and covered them with compost and then hilled dirt on top. I hope they don't get scab from the rich compost. I'm still learning about this gardening thing, so it may take me a couple seasons to get it right. I guess we'll see. Thanks to all you experienced tater-growers, for all the information though,.......it helps. If they get scab, I'll know why next year.
I planted 3 different varieties.....Red Pontiac, Yukon Gold, & Cobbler.

I didn't have to cut any of mine. I was lucky enough to be able to hand pick them from the garden supply store, so I got them all just a little smaller than a golf ball and planted them all whole.

This message was edited Mar 25, 2006 9:27 PM

PeggieK, even if they do get scab it won't hurt the eating quality, they just won't look quite so pretty. You'll probably get better production and larger potatoes.

Two years ago, I planted 1 row in ground that I had manured the previous fall, and 3 rows in "new" ground. Although that one row did have a few scabs It grew much bigger spuds. ☺

Really nice rows Big Red. Thanks for the pics. I bet your garden is a pretty sight to behold in the summer growing season.

Thank you for the encouraging words. I'm such a novice at this, but really want to learn to do it well. Thanks again.

PeggieK, IF I don't spend too much time fishing like last year!

Right on ! I hear that the Crappie are spawning around here. Time to go check it out. A little something for the freezer to have with those potatoes.

I just planted my potatoes. Unfortunately, I read all this AFTER I cut them and put them in peat pots. I didn't let them dry or anything. What is scabbing? Should I just toss my potatoes? Will they grow? This is only my second year gardening and my first year growing taters.

noobie, relax! They will probably be fine and you'll have a lovely crop.

Thanks, Zeppy! I needed to hear that. I'm like a new mama with these seeds. I bought seedlings last year, and promised myself that this year I would try to grow my own.

More than you want to know about scab: http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/factsheets/Potato_Scab.htm

Hey Farmerdill,
Good link plus found other interesting links. Thanks!

Big_Red

Well, guys, I just finished planting my potatoes. Since my raised bed is small, I did one long row of russet potatoes. Hilled up dirt and mint compost over them.
So should do just fine.
Really appreciated all the comments here tho. Helped a lot.
Carol

Now that they're in the ground, how long should it be before I see anything sprouting above ground ? It's been about a week for some of them. I put out more today.............without the rich compost. lol I guess I have something to make a comparison to, with and without scabs. Figured I better go get some more and plant them, cause my favorite is the little new potatoes, boiled with skin on and buttered. Yummmm. Can hardly wait.

How should they be planted in raised beds. My potato beds are about 2 feet deep.

Can I space them a little closer together?

BB

If it's a wide bed (3 or 4 ft) I stagger them so there are basically two rows (staggered). Still 12 inch apart.

PeggieK, it'll be a while. You may see one come up in two places (from the two eyes).

Patience is a virtue, right ? I wanted them to just pop up like my radishes did. lol. I don't even like radishes all that much, but grow them for that simple reason. Keeps me distracted, so I can wait until something else comes up. hehe. I love gardening.

PeggieK, it depends on several things, soil temp, whether they were sprouted or not, how deep they were planted, etc. They usually will come up in 2 - 2 1/2 weeks.

This message was edited Apr 7, 2006 8:57 AM

Wow, that seems like a long time. But the little new potatoes are sooooo good, it's worth the wait.

I wouldn't go digging for any new potatoes for a couple of months: a week or two after flowering begins.

Gotcha. I'll go dig a few radishes lol

Has anyone mentioned using layered boards or tires to grow potatoes in:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/homegarden/2002347126_potatoes25.html

This works well enough but with a little thought you can do better. At least in my experience!
As you add boards or tiers leave a 2" gap.

Plant your first layer around the edges.
Attach your second layer of boards etc fill with dirt and plant same way.

Continue to a controllable height. On the top layer plant the entire area and cover with dirt.
The potatoes will grow out the spacing and over tha top.
Quite beautiful ! When ready ya can steal a few from tha top layer.
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Harvest starting at tha top, removing boards as ya go.
____________________________

I haven't done this in years because I haven't had tha need and I'm too lazy.
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4' sq fits most anywhere so backyarders Can grow taters

I bet that is pretty with plants coming out from between tires. How do you create the spaces between tires ?

Hey PeggieK
Spend a lot of time in NE Ok well as SE.

Spacing tires can be done with most anything appx 2 inches.
A couple of 2x4's laid across for support.
Old scraps of wood cut to fit.

Haha, ya gotta remember heycharlie is simple charlie & lazy.

Just found this thread and it's useful and interesting. Peggy, yes, patience is a virtue. It took 6 weeks before our taters poked their heads through the ground.

I'm happy to hear about when to harvest. I would just sit here and wait for them to show up in a net bag.

Bet you wouldn't guess this is my first year for taters.

:^)))
Molly

Hehe, a net bag...........that's a good one ! Sounds like my kind of thinking.
We planted ours around St. Patrick's Day, and they are just now poking their way thru the dirt (today actually). I'm so glad it didn't take ours 6 weeks to make a showing. I would have probably thought they had rotted and started digging them up to see.

Hehehe, Peggie, that's exactly what I did! I planted mine on the 19th and a local farmer told me that "it was too early, they'd just rot in the ground". I dug up one here and there(3) and they've all started to sprout, no rot as of now. Just have a few peeking out of the ground now.

My brother and I have created a round "barrel" type stand of dirt that we've planted our potatoes in. I've mentioned it in my journal and I'll see if we can get some pics up soon.

We used some netting, with the empty plastic bag that contained top soil placed around the netting to keep the dirt from spilling out. We poured a bag of top soil in, then a layer of peat moss, sprinkled a bit of tater fertilizer, then another bag of top soil, layer of peat moss, sprinkle tater fertilizer, and so on till we hit the top. We then planted our taters 4 inches deep. We have created just 2 stands so far, but we are going to do more this saturday for our red potatoes. We planted the first 2 stands of white potatoes sometime around the middle of March and just now one stand has 3 plants starting to come up.