Potatoes are a surprisingly satisfying crop to grow. If you’re not a huge fan of these tubers, tasting freshly harvested homegrown potatoes will definitely change your feelings about the crop. Along with peas and onions, they are one of the first crops we plant in the spring. You really feel like you are doing something useful when burying the big chunks of 'seed potatoes.’
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In this episode, we discuss:
How potatoes grow
Planting considerations and other growing tips
Varieties we love
Important Take-aways:
Potatoes are a long season crop, so if you haven't done so already, planting potatoes will force you to finish planning out your garden for the season.
Fresh, or what are often called 'new potatoes' are ready to harvest as early as June and fully mature potatoes are usually ready to start harvesting mid-summer
We consider potatoes short to medium height crops. Much of the growth happens underground, where rhizome-like stems spread and produce tubers.
Potatoes are grown from seed potatoes, which are small potatoes or parts of a potato from the previous season.
Once planted, the sprouts on the seed potatoes send out one or two main stems. Part of these main stems grow below ground, and part grow above ground. Below ground, those main stems send out succulent root-like structures called stolons. Stolons are a second set of underground stems, part of which will eventually swell to form the tuber that you harvest and eat. The part of the main stem that grows above ground will set leaves and photosynthesis to feed the plant.
For planting instructions, check out this blog post Hilary created a few years ago
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