Potatoes have always been cheap in Wisconsin and for that reason I never grew them until I began to have concerns about the chemicals that may have been used on them for fertilizing and pest control. I also became interested in trying some unusual potato varieties that I couldn’t find in the grocery store, or that weren’t quite so inexpensive.
Last year I planted my first potato crop and it was wonderful! Just like tomatoes, there is no beating the taste of potatoes fresh from the garden. The satisfaction of digging your own potatoes just before supper time and bringing them in to fry them up is unsurpassed.
Potatoes are surprisingly easy to grow, but you do need some space. They grow fine in pretty much any soil, but the ideal is rich in nutrients and well-drained. An acid soil is best, not because the potatoes will grow any better, but because acid soil discourages potato scab. Adding peat moss or powdered sulfur to the soil lowers the pH toward acid, if you are worried. Scab doesn’t compromise the quality of potatoes for eating, just makes them unattractive to the eye and unsuitable for baking.
Potatoes are grown from other potatoes, cut into chunks. Sometimes grocery store potatoes begin to sprout, but most are treated to prevent sprouting, so it is best to buy seed potatoes from a garden center or by mail.
Potatoes can be planted anytime from late April to late May. From one to ten days before planting, cut the seed potatoes so that there is at least one eye to each section and at least an inch of flesh around each eye. Generally, you can get about six pieces from each seed potato. Spread the pieces on a cookie sheet or newspaper to dry.
Plant potatoes 6” apart in rows spaced 3’ apart. Either dig trenches 4”-5” deep and bury the potato pieces, or hill soil over them to that height. As the plants grow, hill soil, leaves, straw or compost over them to keep the tubers covered to prevent them from turning green and bitter. Keeping them covered also encourages more potatoes to develop on each plant.
Once the plants blossom, stop hilling the soil but apply a thick mulch to conserve moisture and prevent weeds. Water deeply during prolonged dry spells.
Begin to harvest “new” potatoes as soon as the plants blossom. Gently pull the soil aside and pick off cooking sized potatoes. Pat the soil back into place to let the rest of the potatoes continue to grow. When the foliage begins to wither and die, the tubers are full-grown. If the weather is not extremely warm or wet, they will keep in the ground for many weeks, but dig them up before first frost.
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