What comes to your mind first when someone asks you to name a vegetable used worldwide? However, it can be none other than potatoes. This is due to its wide usage in fried potatoes, baked potatoes, grilled potatoes, skillet potatoes, and many more! Growing potatoes at your home garden can fetch you the unmatchable taste with ultimate freshness. If you are interested in planting potatoes but don’t know how and when to plant potatoes, then you are in the right.
Our comprehensive research on planting potatoes has brought us to share this fantastic product with all of you! We hope that our potato planting tips and tricks will assist you in holding a magnificent potato harvest next year. So let’s dive into it!
How To Plant Potatoes
Potatoes consistently perform outstandingly when there is full sun. This is because they are forcefully establishing plants, and we find that they will create the best yield when planted in a light, free, all around depleted soil. Unfortunately, potatoes incline toward a somewhat corrosive soil with a PH of 5.0 to 7.0. Luckily potatoes are truly versatile and will often deliver a good yield when the soil conditions and developing seasons are not favorable for potatoes.
Experts suggest keeping potatoes without weed for stunning outcomes. Potatoes should be pivoted in the nursery rather than being grown in a similar spot. Until there has been a 3-year gap in potato production, before moving further, let’s discuss potato types and how each comes with distinct features.
Types Of Potatoes
There are essentially six potatoes: russet, red, yellow, white, fingerling, and blue. Each has its characteristics and knowing which one is most suited to you goes a long way towards making what you cook delicious at the most superficial level. Potatoes are either high starch or low starch. Those potatoes high in starch are best for backing and ideal for mash potato recipes. Below we have shared each potato type in detail!
Russet Potatoes
Russets are the work of art “Idaho ” potatoes with thick earthy coloured skin, frequently utilized for backing, making fries, and crushing. Russets are low in dampness and will, in general, get dry when cooked. While cooking them, most people add extra milk and butter to make them great. The other varieties found in Russet are Russet Burbank, German Butterball.
Yellow Type A General-Purpose Potatoes
Yellow potatoes are universally handy potatoes ideal for crushing, steaming, bubbling, heating, simmering, and frying. Varieties under this category are Inca Gold, Mountain Rose, Yukon Gold, and Yellow Finn.
Red (Waxy)
Red potatoes are a staple and an excellent pick for making salads of mixed greens and soups. Moreover, the red potatoes turn out fascinating when it comes to steaming, bubbling, and simmering. Red potatoes come in varieties called Norland, Klondike Rose, Red Pontiac, Cranberry Red, and Mountain Rose.
White (Waxy)
White potatoes come with low starch, but you can call them the best potatoes for boiling, salad and mashing. However, the white potato type has two wide varieties called White Rose and Cal White.
Blue (Universally Handy)
Blue potatoes, otherwise called purple potatoes because of their high cancer prevention agent, which goes purplish when cooked, have medium starch and are extraordinary for steaming, heating, and boiling. The blue potato varieties are Russian Blue, All Blue, Purple Cream of the Crop, Peruvian, and Purple Majesty.
Fingerling (Waxy)
These potatoes come in the size and state of a finger. On account of their tiny size and various hued skin and tissue tones, they are ideal as side dishes. Most have a gentle, reasonably nutty character best delighted in when prepared or broiled and surprisingly roasted — however, they will, in general, self-destruct in soups. Their varieties are French Fingerling, Austrian Crescent, and Russian Banana.
How To Plant Potatoes In The Garden
To begin with, only fill the trench in with 4 inches of soil. Let the plants start to grow and then continue to fill in the trench and even mound the soil around the plants as they continue to grow. Before planting, always make sure to cultivate the ground one last time. This will remove any weeds, loosen the soil, and allow the plants to become established more quickly.
To kick start the growing process, you need to fill the channel with four crawls of soil. Allow the plants to begin to develop and afterwards keep filling in the channel and mound the soil around the plants as they continue growing. Before planting, consistently try to establish the dirt one final time. This will eliminate any weeds, release the dirt, and permit the plants to become set up more rapidly.
Water Your Planted Potatoes
Make sure to keep your potato plants very much watered all through the late spring, particularly during the period when the plants are blossoming and quickly following the blooming stage. The plants make their tubers, and a consistent water supply is vital to acquire desirable yield results. Potatoes perform outstandingly when they have 1 to 2 inches of water or downpour each week. At the point when the foliage becomes yellow and starts to kick the bucket back, cease watering. This will assist with beginning to relieve the potatoes for harvest time.
Harvest Your Planted Potatoes
When it comes to small-sized potatoes, you are only required to wait for 2-3 weeks after the plants have completed the process of blooming. Tenderly burrow around the plants to eliminate potatoes for crisp eating, being mindful not to be excessively meddlesome. Collect the mature and fully grown potatoes and let them smaller ones so they can keep on developing. Just take what you need for guaranteed seating. Although growing potatoes in the home garden have become a symbol of extravagance, they should be used freshly.
If you want to save your potatoes, let them borrow for up to 2 to 3 three weeks once the potatoes’ foliage bites the soil back. Then, cautiously mine potatoes with a strong fork and if the climate is dry, permit the potatoes to lay in the field, unwashed, for 2-3 days. This relieving step helps the skins to develop and is fundamental for adequate storage time. In case if the climate during harvest is wet and stormy, permit the potatoes to fix in a dry secured region like a carport or covered yard.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the right time to plant potatoes?
The best time for planting potatoes are July and August but there are some tips and tricks that will make you grow potatoes throughout the year.
Can we plant potatoes in the month of May?
You need almost 120 days in order to uplift a healthy harvest at the end of the season. However, the month of May is the best time that will ensure you the best harvest in the end.
How much sun do we need for planting potatoes?
Potatoes consistently work best in full sun. They are forcefully establishing plants, and they deliver the best harvest when planted under full sunlight, much-depleted soil. Potatoes favour marginally corrosive soil with a PH of 5.0 to 7.0.
Can potatoes survive in frost?
Potato leaves endure little frost, yet leaves and stems kick the bucket back to the ground in colder temperatures. Seed potatoes send up new shoots to supplant tops destroyed in the last frost.
Wrap Up
Potatoes are one of the most favourite vegetables of every household across the globe. However, growing potatoes in your garden provide you with the next level of satisfaction wrapped in taste. Those living in cool areas can quickly grow potatoes with a quick guide provided here.