Planting Potatoes in My Garden
The beds in my vegetable garden are filling up quickly. We already planted a variety of crops including onions, leeks, a selection of brassicas, as well as seeds for spinach, carrots, beets and cilantro.
Most recently, we planted three long beds of potatoes. Potatoes are grown from “seed potatoes”, which are certified disease-free and specially grown in nurseries for planting purposes. This season’s “seed potatoes” came from Irish Eyes Garden Seeds, a small family-owned business located in Ellensburg, Washington.
Here are some photos - enjoy.
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- Irish Eyes Garden Seeds strives to provide a variety of quality organic seed potatoes. They are one of only 10-certified organic seed potato growers nationwide. http://irisheyesgardenseeds.com
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- Ryan creates all the markers as the potatoes are removed from the bags. These large white markers come from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. They’re birchwood veneer stakes made in Maine, and are treated with an environmentally-friendly, water-based preservative so they last longer through the season. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/
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- Some of the bigger varieties – bigger than the average sized chicken egg – are cut into pieces. Each piece should have at least two eyes.
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- Each cut side of a potato is then coated with Douglas fir bark dust.
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- This dust helps to heal the sliced area, so it doesn’t shrink or curl. The slightly acidic bark is also a natural fungicide and moisture buildup barrier.
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- Ryan make sure every potato is coated. Defender potatoes are late season potatoes suitable for frying and excellent as a fresh market baker.
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- These Dark Red Norland potatoes are loved for their richer red skin color. These are round to oblong tubers with white flesh. They store well, and are excellent for roasting and boiling.
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- Appalosa Gold are red skinned with yellow markings around the eyes and striking golden yellow flesh. They have good flavor and texture when fried or boiled.
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- This Bake King variety produces oblong shaped potatoes with thick, white skin and floury white flesh. As the name suggests, it’s a great baking potato.
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- Cal White is a long white fleshed potato with brilliant white skin. It makes a delicious baked potato.
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- Huckleberry Gold is perfect for anyone who likes purple skins with golden yellow flesh. These potatoes are medium-sized, round to oval tubers – excellent for baking, boiling or frying.
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- These uniformly medium-sized oval Atlantic tubers have white, lightly netted skin and white flesh. They can grow quite large and are resistant to late blight and scab.
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- Bliss Triumph is an 1878 heirloom, sometimes called “Red Bliss”. It’s treasured by many for early creamers and steamers because of its great taste. These potatoes have a light-red skin, creamy white flesh and pale red deep eyes.
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- These beautiful, medium sized round tubers are excellent cooked every way – they can be steamed, boiled, baked, fried, mashed, roasted, or scalloped. They’re also disease-resistant and drought-tolerant.
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- These tubers with smooth, red-brown skin, shallow eyes and white flesh, out-produce most commercial fresh market russets. It’s excellent for baking, frying or boiling.
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- This potato with deep yellow flesh is wonderful for boiling to roasting, to grilling and mashing.
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- Butte potatoes are oblong with white flesh and russeted skin. They’re also noted for having 20-percent higher protein content than most potatoes. These are also very high in Vitamin-C.
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- Early Ohio potatoes are 1900 heirlooms with white flesh and tan skin. They are flavorful and great for frying, roasting and mashing.
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- Released in 1981, Lehmi potatoes are medium to large sized tubers. They are one of the heaviest yielding russets – excellent for baking and for making french fries.
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- King Harry is an early season potato with white flesh and a moist, waxy texture. This is a good storage potato. The “Harry” leaves repel bugs, such as Colorado Potato Beetles, Flea Beetles, and Potato Leaf Hoppers.
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- Canela potatoes are late-season tubers. They are good storage potatoes and have medium russet skin.
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- Ryan lined up all the trays of potatoes so they were ready to take down to the vegetable garden for planting. The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial nightshade Solanum tuberosum.
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- Meanwhile, Wilmer dug shallow trenches for the potatoes. Adding organic matter is a good way to amend the soil before planting, but don’t use sources too high in nitrogen, as too much can encourage the growth of lush foliage at the expense of tuber development.
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- All the potatoes are laid out in front of the beds in which they’ll be planted.
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- Wilmer starts placing the potatoes in the trenches. Each trench should be about four-inches deep. Potatoes perform best in soil with pH levels 4.8 to 5.5. Potatoes are easy to grow as long as they have access to full sun and moderate temperatures.
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- The seed potato pieces are placed in the trench with eyes faced up. When selecting seed potatoes, avoid planting those from supermarkets in case they were treated by sprout inhibitors. Potatoes can be planted in cooler soils at least 40-degrees Fahrenheit. They do best as rotation crops, and should be placed away from where potatoes, tomatoes or peppers were grown in the last two years.
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- Trenches should also be at least two to three feet apart to give the potato plants ample room to develop.
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- If the eyes are not planted faced up, it’s not the end of the world – the potatoes will find their way, but it may take a little longer for them to develop and grow.
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- When planting a group of potatoes, be sure they are spaced at least eight to 12-inches apart. Wilmer adjusts the spacing, so they are all perfectly aligned.
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- Next, Wilmer replaces the soil in the trench, fully covering the potatoes at least four-inches. Potatoes do best in well-drained, loose soil, and consistent moisture.
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- Once the potatoes have been properly covered remember to place a marker at the end of the trench identifying what was planted where.
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- I cannot wait until harvest time for all the delicious vegetables we planted in the garden this year. A first modest harvest of potatoes should be ready about 65-days after planting.
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