How to Plant Potatoes

Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day, which means it’s time to plant potatoes.  Here in Kansas we are in zone 6a, and as long as I can remember all my gardening “elders” have always told me to plant potatoes on St. Pat’s day. So yesterday I got my area prepped and put the potatoes in the ground.

Potatoes grow a long tap root, and from the tap root lateral roots shoot off. This is where your potatoes grow from. With all the lateral roots potatoes take up a lot of room in the garden. I have squared off about a 4 foot by 3 foot section for them. We’ll see how they do.

This is the first time I’ve grown them in the raised bed, so we’ll just have to see. I do know I will have to be very careful about what I plant in that spot next year. Potatoes tend to draw pretty specific pests and diseases. These can overwinter in your soil and can infect the plants you plant next year.

You must never plant potatoes in the same place within a 3 year period. You also need to avoid planting tomatoes, peppers and eggplant in that space  for the next 3 years as well.  When it comes to

crop rotation I think it’s great to have a garden journal. I always think I will remember from year to year what I planted where, but come on, I can barely remember what I had for dinner last night. I’m probably not going to remember 3 years from now where I planted my potatoes.

If you have a small garden, and don’t feel like you have the space for potatoes, or

even if you have no space at all you can still plant and harvest a great crop of potatoes. Potatoes can easily be grown in tires or even in a trash can. It seems crazy but it’s true!

Growing Potatoes in a Tire

You will need a few tires, some potting soil and some seed potatotes. You will probably need a couple pounds of potatoes by the time you are done.

To begin you put down a tire, rough up the soil below the tire just enough to allow for drainage.  In the inside of the tire put some potting soil.  Add a few potato pieces around the circle, make sure you have a few eyes on each piece. Fill in the hallow of the tire as well as the circle hole of the tire until it is filled.

Now you are going to let your potatoes grow for a while.  When your potatoes are about 5 inches tall you are going to repeat the process with another tire. Just set the tire on top of the plants, fill in the hallow of the tire and plant your potatoes. Then fill in the big hole with potting soil.

Again, let your potatoes grow to about 5 inches tall and repeat the process. Adding tires like this will encourage a longer tap root. The longer the tap root the more lateral roots will shoot off creating more potatoes.

Make sure to keep your tires well watered, especially through the hot months. You want to make sure your potatoes get at least 6 hours of sun each day.  You may need to water daily during the heat of the summer.

When it comes time to harvest your potatoes you can reach in and grab a few early so you have some early potatoes. These spoil quickly so use them right away. However, when your foliage starts to die off and turn brown you can begin harvesting your big potatoes.  Growing potatoes in tires has its advantages here as well. You can pull off one tire at a time for harvest. Get the potatoes out of the top tire.  When you need more potatoes you can go back and pull off the second tire and get more potatoes. Being able to harvest this way will allow you to have potatoes throughout the fall and winter seasons.

You can use this method with just about anything. You can use a trash can and use the same procedures. Just make sure you drill some holes in the bottom, and along the sides about 3 inches above the bottom of your can. You want to make sure you have good drainage so your potatoes don’t rot.

You can create a circle with chicken wire or anything else with holes in it. You may find your plants find their way to the sun through the sides of your circle, but that’s ok. This will just create more tap root and more lateral root, which means more potatoes.

Using something that is contained can make harvesting your potatoes a very easy process. If you plant your potatoes straight into the ground you will have to do some digging to harvest your potatoes, but that is half the fun of planting potatoes. The treasure hunt that is harvest.

I will keep you updated on the progress of my potatoes, and I this article has gotten me kind of excited about trying alternative methods of pototo growing. I’ve got a big ole stack of tires out in the barn, just waiting for some potatoes I think.