One of the simplest kitchen gardening skills you can learn is how to grow potatoes. Even tiny backyards can successfully grow them as a staple crop, and they require relatively little maintenance. Better yet, once harvested, they may be used to make a variety of delicious recipes.

They look excellent in vegetable patches and borders. There is a vast selection of potatoes to pick from. Alternatively, why not try growing “salad blue” potatoes? They will stand out on the dinner table despite being infrequently available in supermarkets.

With the help of these straightforward instructions, you may easily start growing healthy potatoes as part of your vegetable garden plans.

Easy Guide To Follow

Here is everything you need to know whether you decide to grow potatoes in a bag, a pot, in borders, or in a special kitchen garden.

Select Your Potato Variety

The kind of potato you decide to grow will influence both the timing of when you need to plant it and the length of time it will take to grow. Always get seed potatoes from the garden center so they can grow.

According to Kate Turner, a Miracle-Gro gardening expert, “don’t be tempted to use the long-standing ones from the back of your kitchen cupboard as these won’t provide a regular crop” (opens in new tab).

Chit Your Potatoes

According to Francesco Ponziani, horticulturist at RHS Garden Harlow Carr, “Chitting is a procedure of preparing tubers for planting which breaks their dormancy artificially and initiates development.” decreasing the period until potatoes are ready for harvest.

Put your potatoes in an egg box or tray to chill them. Place them in a cool, well-lit area, ideally a windowsill away from the sun. When they start to sprout shoots, give them about six weeks to do so.

Plant The Potatoes

As long as the soil is not too wet or dense, growing healthy potatoes is easy for most types of soil. However, a smart idea is to prepare the soil by mixing high-quality compost into it because the richer the soil is, the better the product will be.

Decide on a sunny, frost-free location. Francesco continues, “Avoid planting them on the soil where potatoes have grown for two years straight; doing so will raise the risk of illness.”

According to the variety of potatoes, you are planting, you should dig a trench and place the plants 10 to 12 cm deep and 30 to 37.5 cm apart, with the shoots facing upwards.

However, if you select little kinds, you can grow potatoes in a container. You can even plant potatoes in a bag if your property is extremely small. Ensure that the potatoes have ample room to develop both vertically and downwards.

When To Grow Them?

The climate zone you dwell in will determine when to plant potatoes. The best period to sow potatoes is typically between March and May. Early April is the best time to sow the first early potatoes. Mid-April is the ideal time to sow the second early potatoes. Potatoes for the main harvest should be sown in late April.

Make Your Potatoes Earthy

To prevent any light from reaching any potatoes that are growing closer to the surface, apply additional earth over the stems after the green shoots are between 20 and 30 cm tall. This procedure, known as “earthing up,” keeps your potato crop from becoming green. As your potatoes grow, you’ll need to keep repeating this.

However, if you grow the potatoes under black polythene, you can omit this step. Because you won’t have to dig to harvest the potatoes from just below the surface of the soil, this planting method requires little upkeep.

Harvest The Potatoes

When are potatoes harvested? Depending on whether they are main crop potatoes (available to harvest between 10 and 20 weeks after planting), first earlies (10 weeks), or second earlies (13 weeks), potatoes can be harvested (20 weeks).

When the blooms open or the buds fall off, generally in the middle of the summer, you will know they are ripe. To harvest potatoes, use a fork or spade to dig up the entire plant while taking care not to spear any potatoes.

To keep growing healthy potatoes and in good shape, until you cook with them, you must now learn how to store them.