Potato Growing

potato growing tips

Never underestimate the potato. Potatoes are used in everything from bread to salad to snack food. These tubers are very diverse and are an important source of carbohydrates. Even in a world where people swear that carbohydrates are detrimental, the potato continues to be an important food source. You can even use a potato to power a light bulb! Knowing how diverse and important potatoes are it is only natural that you would be curious about potato growing.

For growing potatoes,first purchase some seed potatoes from your local nursery. You can usually buy them around the start of the year. You can also find them in seed catalogues. If you don't want to spend the money, you can always use the potatoes you already have-cut them up into chunks—as long as that chunk of potato has one of the potato's "eyes" in it, it will grow!

You can grow potatoes as early in the year as you like, but be forewarned: the potatoes will not start to grow until the soil temperature reaches about sixty degrees. While the earth is warming up, the potato seeds will stay dormant. Be careful that you don't start to grow potato too early because if too much time passes, the seeds are more likely to rot while they wait to start sprouting. When planting your potato seeds, make sure that they are about a foot apart and that they are planted about three inches into the ground. If you are planting multiple rows of potatoes, make sure that the rows are between two and three feet apart to give the growing potatoes room.

Growing a potato is best in soil that is fertile and moist (but well drained). You want to be able to maintain the structure of the soil, and if you plant the potatoes early, you might think about covering the plants with a layer of clear plastic or clear film to insulate the earth and to help it warm up more quickly. Just remember to remove the plastic or the film when the potato plants start to sprout above the earth or you could impede the growing process.

The harvesting of your potato growing year comes when the vines have died, though if you want "new potatoes" you can dig while the vines are still living. July is the best time for new potatoes. When the potatoes are around two inches, they can be dug up and used in soups or for roasting. If you let the potatoes grow until September, you will be able to store them for a few weeks in a dark cool room as long as the room has a fair amount of humidity in it.

These are just a few simple tips to help you with your potatoes growing. It might take a little while to get the hang of growing these versatile tubers but once you get the hang of potato growing, you will never have to worry about going hungry. Potatoes can be used in almost every food you can think of.

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