Potatoes in the ground?? Seriously??

[the1honeycomb]

I heard once that some people plant their potatoes in the ground! I have always planted mine in boxes, and bags. well all my boxes and bags are full and I have some potatoes that need to be planted. I don't want to waste good sets so i am asking all you new wave farmers how to do it.
and after they grow how deep do you have to dig to get them outhide seriously that sounds like work) I am willing to try anything so give me some great hints please. I have every available space taken upexcept for a 3 x 10 row that I haven't assigned yet is this enough?? Thanks

 

[NwMtGardener]

Hahaha, hilarious. The "new wave" of planting potatoes in the ground.

Phew, okay, caught my breath after all that. Should be simple, plunk them in the ground. if that's enough room depends on how many seed potatoes you have left. Dig them anytime after they bloom, carefully, with a potato fork. Kinda like a pitchfork but fat, flatter fork tines. Insert fork a ways out from the potato plant, um, 14"-16" maybe? Push it way in, far as it will go, then tip it backward and sort through all the dirt you just overturned for your buried treasure.

 

[the1honeycomb]

Yum and about how long does it take in the ground for the treasure to produce itself? 100 days?? the ones that I grow in chicken feed sacks don't seem to take as long but I do like new potatoes!!!

 

[digitS']

Planting now, an early variety should have new potatoes for you in early-July. Sow some more pea seed in about 2 weeks so you can hit that creamed peas & new potatoes season! Shell or snap peas, either will work fine .

I use a spading fork for cultivation then a posthole digger for planting. They are too precious for the mayhem I can create by digging the potatoes with a fork or shovel!

With the early earlies at one end of the bed and the not-so-earlies at the other end. I can stretch the harvest over weeks, if not months! Digging up 2 to 4 plants at a time from under the plants.

By that I mean, I am standing in a trench, as the soil in the bed is completely removed over those weeks. Yeah, I'm using a shovel but the blade is about 4" below the tubers. As I push down on the handle, the potatoes drop down, out of the soil.

I can refill the trench behind me and have plenty of spuds from those 2, 3 or 4 plants until the next time I show up out there .

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

New wave!!! Yeah, right. How about the way my Granddaddy's Granddaddy did it.

Something important to remember. The potatoes form above the seed potato.

Make a shallow trench, maybe 2" deep at most. Put your seed spud in that maybe 12" apart. Cover it with a few inches of dirt.

When it is maybe 4 to 6" high, rake dirt in from the sides to bury the bottom of that plant. Leave maybe 6 to 8 leaves exposed. As it grows do that a couple of more times. Stop doing that when it blooms. When it blooms it is setting potatoes so more burying is a waste*. You should wind up with a mound maybe 9" to 12" high. The area between rows will be lower, so factor that in. The potatoes will form above the seed potato, so they will be in this mound. You could bury the seed potato deeper but that makes them harder to dig.

*If the potatoes are exposed to the sun, they will turn green and form a poison called solanine. Sometimes that mound cracks if the weather turns dry and exposes the potatoes. If that happens drag more dirt over them to cover them and don't eat green potatoes.

Instead of just dragging dirt over them, some people use straw or something like that. I never have so can't speak to that method. Maybe that's the new wave your thinking of.

 

[thistlebloom]

I harvest mine a little differently, but planting is pretty standard. (For potatoes that aren't grown in a bag in your basement I mean.)

When I'm ready to harvest I kneel in front of the first plant and pull it carefully out of the ground. Most of the potatoes are exposed and I put those in my bucket, then run my hands through the soil searching for others.
When I'm satisfied that I found them all I scoot down to the next plant.

When I'm done I qualify for Pigpens sister. Potato harvest is my favorite garden activity!

I frequently cover my hills with straw because my soil doesn't have a lot of depth for extra hilling after the initial time.

 

[Carol Dee]

DH grew up in a family that always had a LARGE garden with lots of potatoes. They had me planting them soon after we met. Cut the seed potato into pieces, be sure that each piece has 2 eyes. Till the ground nice and deep. (A foot maybe?) make trenches about 4 to 6 inches deep. Plant each piece eyes up about 8-10 inches apart. Rows maybe 2 or 3 feet apart. (DH says you have to step them in?) Then mound soil up over the trenches a bit higher than ground level. You can continue to mound soil up as potatoes sprout. Since you have grown spuds before you will know when they are ready to harvest. That is EASY. Use a garden spad or potato fork and lift them out. The soil should still be loose and easy to work. They do not grow so deep you have to dig to China for them.

 

[digitS']

I like to use my half-finished compost for hilling. (Do not use the neighbor's leafmold. It will have weed seed in it !)

Potatoes like fertile soil, give them a good place in the garden. Before you do the hilling, put down some good fertilizer. Don't wait too long if you are using an organic fertilizer. It takes some time to be available to the plants. The compost can go right over the fertilizer.

Yes, this is a mulch but it doesn't need to be too heavy and probably shouldn't be over the bed from the get-go. You are risking an invasion of field mice if a heavy mulch is there all season. They will eat your potatoes before you have a chance to! Instead of providing cover for the rodents, the mulch can help maintain soil moisture, add fertility, and most importantly - protect the tubers from sunlight.

Steve

 

[PhilaGardener]

I tried straw mulch on my potatoes last year. We had a really rainy spell and that caused the straw to decompose and compact, and I then lost a lot of tubers to greening because of exposure so sunlight. By the time I realized, it was too late. Back to soil/compost for mounding this year!

 

[the1honeycomb]

wow now I know why i like doing my potatoes in bags it is sooo much easier1!! I have planted them and I hope to try to include a little of the info from each of you new wavers!!! I guess I'll have to hide the bags from DH next year just as I was ready to plant he had taken them to the dump. It'll be fun and I have lots of partially aged compost Thanks for all your input!