“How do you grow potatoes?”. This is one of my favourite questions to answer. And one of the easiest.
My answer is always the same: It’s like magic. You put a potato in the ground, and then about 3 months later you dig a whole lot up again! Now usually, if something sounds too good to be true it actually is, but in this case, it really is that easy!
So, if you’re ready to start growing potatoes yourself, here’s a few little tips I’ve put together to make sure you get a bumper crop!
Potatoes grow straight from a potato. And that’s where the magic is! Potatoes that are used for planting are called seed potatoes.
The little bits that we chop off when we go to cook them are called eyes, and that’s where the plant grows from that makes the new potatoes grow. So when you plant your potatoes they need to be planted with the eyes facing up, otherwise the plant won’t grow upwards!
You should only have one eye growing out per potato. If you have more than one, you can always chop the potato up into pieces and plant each piece in the ground.
If you do this, you’ll need to give them time to ‘cure’, or dry out, before you plant them.
I have never worried about the eyes being too long before they go in the ground, but many people say to wait until they are 3-4cm long.
Potatoes will grow just about anywhere in soil, whether that’s a garden bed, a grow bag, a box, or even a bucket.
They don’t need a lot of space, so it’s not hard to find a suitable place to grow them in, and they are the perfect option for small spaces.
If you’re going to grow in a garden bed like me, you’ll want to dig shallow trenches about 15-20cm deep, and about 30cm apart.
Once your seed potatoes have cured and your trenches are dug, place the potatoes in the ground with the eyes facing up, spaces about 20-25cm apart.
They don’t need a lot of space as they grow, but this space gives them enough room to be efficient with space and not be crowded.
Here in New Zealand, we can usually get at least two harvests of potatoes in each year.
Early September, or after the last frost is when they can be first planted, and then all the way through to February, depending how cold your area gets.
This means you have two opportunities to grow a big cop and end up with twice as many potatoes as you would have with only planting once.
Potatoes can take anywhere from 80-100 days to be ready to harvest, and because our growing season is quite long, we have the ability to get two full harvests.
Usually you’ll know that your potatoes are ready to harvest because the flowers will have died and the stems start to turn yellow and fall over. These potatoes will be mature and will be able to stored to use over the next few months.
However, if you’ve planted an early variety, you’ll be able to pull them up when they flower are fully opened. These potatoes won’t store for as long because they won’t be mature enough so it’s best to use the straight away.
When you do go to harvest them, make sure it hasn’t been raining in the past couple of days, because the soil won’t be as wet and won’t stick to the potatoes when you pull them up. This will also make them harder to dry out and they not store as long.
Potatoes will store best in a cool, dark, dry place like a basement or garage, because if potatoes get too much light, they turn green and can be harmful if eaten.
I’ve used crates lined with empty chicken food bags to keep them covered, but you could also use sand or sawdust.
Potatoes are one of my favourite vegetables to grow and to eat!
I can’t wait to see your beautiful potato harvests!