Last updated on December 2nd, 2011
HOW MANY OF YOU are planting potatoes this spring? Need any tips for achieving a colossal harvest? Then be sure to check out my current slide-show at Garden Design (dot) com. There you will find everything you need to know about selecting, curing, planting, hilling and harvesting and storing this superstar among staples.
If you have any specific questions about potato-planting, be sure to post them below. Also – anyone (besides me) fond of Blue potatoes?
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Eric says
Great slideshow, Kevin!
My local Agway didn't have blue potatoes. I'm so disappointed! I planted kennebec, superior, and red norland.
Sheila says
Loved the slideshow, love homegrown potatoes! I ordered yukon gold, blue, and kennebec online from Johnnys. I followed your advice from older posts and cut and cured them before planting. They are now sending green shoots up, and I'll start hilling them soon. Very exciting!
Eric says
Great slideshow! All my potatoes are planted now.
Adele says
Loved the slideshow. Lots of great tips there.
martha says
hi kevin, happy monday! i loved the spud slideshow, thanks. i have mine in a raised planter and they are growing fast. regarding the top dressings you find suitable… do you think i could make use of the pine shavings that line our new baby chicks brooder box? i have been adding the soiled shavings to the compost but the large volume would be plenty to top up my spud hills if you think this would be a benefit?
ok, next question… have you ever tried to germinate and grow the potato seed from the aerial fruit?
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Good to hear from you, Martha!
I would not use the soiled pine shavings until they have composted for at least 6-9 months. Why? Because they are too nitrogen-rich.
Regarding aerial potato-fruits: Unless I'm mistaken, these are baby potatoes growing on stolons (stems) that did not get hilled with soil or straw. The little potatoes are green, of course, because have been exposed to light. I don't think they have enough life-force in them to form sprouts.
Sounds like you are adjusting well to west coast gardening! Have you planted your amaranth crop yet?
martha says
hi kevin, the west coast garden is treating us so very well, i love it. we had artichokes, asparagus and peas with dinner tonight, all from the yard.
i havent started any amaranth yet, i thought i would wait to see how many volunteers i got. sure enough there are a bunch of them coming up from last years seeds.
i know the uncovered green potatoes you are talking about, this is a different thing.
the fruits on the potato are up where the flowering occurs, they look like tiny green tomatoes(do not eat these either). my curiosity got me and i had to cut one open last year. they look just like tomatoes on the inside too. at first i wondered if the two nightshades had produced a pomato or something, as the 'maters in my garden were close by.
it turns out these are called true potato seed and are used to breed and engineer varieties. the big seed repository in europe (is it norway?)stores these to safeguard the diversity of the earths potatoes, they dont keep potato eyes. perhaps the spud chunks we plant and call seed potatoes are only really a place to store the plants energy, to see that the aerial seed develops and becomes viable. cut the fruit when the plant is quite mature, split open and drop the halves in a small glass of water. within a couple of days the tiny seeds will separate from the pulp. …and so this is where i asked if you had used those seeds to germinate or grow from, lol, we have come to the end of our tour.
thanks for clearing that up about the shavings, i should have known that. they will all go to the compost now.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
martha – thanks for the potato-“true-seed”-lesson. Of course when I'd notice these laying on the ground at harvest time, I'd think “damn, I didn't hill high enough!” But these are the seed pods the flowers produce. I've read these seeds do not come true to the parent plant. But it would be fun to grow them some year, and find out what kind of potato develops.
Patty says
Last week one of my potted potato plants withered so I harvested the pot. It was fun unearthing the goodies! Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2214784617814.135038.1493520134&l=c17ecc3671&type=1
video too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvH6bK3Nqkg
I still have some in a pot, in bags, and in the ground. Is it too late to make the hills on the ones on the ground?
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Patty – congratulations! I saw the FB photos. Unfortunately Youtube couldn't locate the video. Is the link broken, perhaps?
Regarding hilling: do this before the potato vines flower. After flowering, the plants do not benefit from hilling.
Patty says
I don't know why the link doesn't work. Here is the link to my channel. It is the first video:
http://www.youtube.com/user/musziklovr?feature=mhee
Have you grown sweet potatoes? I wonder if a crop would grow the rest of this year in zone 5.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Patty – this link worked. What beautiful red “spuds” from just one pot!
I don't have any experience with sweet potatoes…yet.
susan says
Question: I have grown potatoes in straw and hay before but have never tried ‘pine shavings. Will they grow or are pine shavings too acidic?