Category Archives: Growing potatoes in a small area

Potato growing year-round

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I’ve been growing potatoes on and/off for 5 years, and have finally gotten the process refined to the point of sustainability. The goal was to have a small quantity of spuds in the ground or stored at all times, such that they could be quickly planted and boosted to a staple crop.  Here’s the major findings:

  • Start with the smaller red potatoes in the grocery store as your root stock. I tried all kinds of white and heirlooms, plus seed and had no luck. The store red spuds always sprouted, and were hardy to heat and cold.  If you live in Maine or the NW US the others may be fine, but I’m bullish on the reds.
  • It will take a few seasons for your stock to adjust to the weather. Mine definitely got MUCH hardier after one full season, especially in the heat. I was shocked how well they adapted, kinda surprising. I’ve had them pop up in June and July after sitting in pots or the garden, after I missed them during harvest.
  • Leave unused potatoes in the ground. I tried to store them in a 65 degree cellar, with 65% RH and no light but they all sprouted and decayed. They seem to weather fine in dry soil, fairly deep.  I put a few in the fridge, they did last but I lost some to rot.
  • You should be able to get two or three good crops per year. Mine start in late February in a cold frame, done in late May/early June. Then another starts, with harvest in August/early September. Then the last starts, and will store in the ground until May without sprouting.
  • Potato towers and pots seem like a waste of time. I couldn’t get ANY tuber growth by piling up soil, just longer stems. My best results were had in small plots, with some hilling. Here’s just part of the haul from a 3×4 ft patch:IMG_2360

Not too shabby, and was not at the limit of what it could produce. I could have probably doubled this by using lots of humus, and careful hilling.

I really enjoy being able to dig a few potatoes whenever I want, definitely a fringe benefit of preparing….

 

Potatopalooza

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It’s been a busy summer with regards to spuds, running multiple growing/storing experiments at two sites. I’ve been trying to do a number of things with them:

  • Establish a continuous supply of seed potatoes
  • Have spare potatoes on hand to consume
  • Figure out how best to store them in all seasons
  • Get them established from true seed
  • Find the best grow media and weather strategies

True Seed

I bought 200 seeds online last spring, and have had decent luck getting them to grow. Maybe half germinate, then maybe 75% make it to the mature plant stage. I’ve found the plants to grow very slowly in early spring, then take off and get exceedingly leggy like tomato vines. These vines grow well all summer until the really hot weather arrives, then they die back.  They seem to do well in the partial shade, sitting on the cool cement pad. Any more sun or being elevated kills them.  They do make 1″ tubers, I have groups of these drying in the root cellar and also dormant in pots. This will be the first crop of TPS spuds, I’m hoping to get them through the winter for early spring planting. These are whites, versus the reds I’ve grown so far.  I’m really hoping to get a spring crop out of these, if they will store. I may need to fridge them in dirt.

Grocery Store clones

These have done the best so far. I started with a handful of sprouting reds, planting them in crap soil (mostly clay)  as a lark. This crop came up last fall, went dormant, then came up again strong in late spring. I learned a few things from that:

  • Mulch the soil. Yeah I read this a million times, but it really is vital. You have to have loose soil with plenty of organic material for the tuber to grow into. Regular dirt works but doesn’t give them enough room to take off.
  • Mounding is overrated. I haven’t been able to do the potato tower thing at all, I get no tubers above where they first really grew foliage. Maybe it’s the pots, I have a new crop coming up now in good ‘ol black humus and we will see how that goes. I’ll mound those up and see what happens.
  • Dug potatoes only store in the cold. I had a couple of batches in the 68 degree cellar, the only lasted 5-6 weeks before they sprouted. These were dug in late July, versus some I had that went 4-5 months outside in pots during the winter. I kinda knew this but tried to cheat nature. They did, however, do quite well as seed potatoes and are shooting up in the new patch.
  • Hot weather is nearly as deadly as cold.  The potted plants hate the hot, I got a lot of die back in the summer vs the spring/fall. The ground plants handled it much better, which stands to reason but it’s interesting.
  • Reds are more robust than whites. Must be the climate, but so far they have been way better. I have different varieties of whites and they are all lacking.
  • Homegrown taste way better than store bought.  I have a hard time eating anything but my own now, there’s just no comparison.  This is a great excuse to grow potatoes, the ends justifies the small effort involved. I made mashed and roasted from the extra reds I got in July, OMG they were good.