February is here and that means I have one thing on my mind and it is n’t Valentine ’s solar day ; it ’s POTATOES ! I ’m all about how to produce Irish potato this month and my growing time of year is well afoot already . Read on to line up out how to get potatoes in your garden .
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spud , spuds , and taters are all the same matter and will produce from a white potato peeling with an “ eye ” or a sprout on it .
English gardeners seem to be very particular about how to acquire potatoes , indeed I ’m reading through one of my go - to homesteading books : The New Complete Book of Self Sufficiency The Classic Guide for Realists and Dreamers by John Seymourand there are 4.5 pageboy institutionalize to growing Solanum tuberosum !
Most English gardeners will assure you to chit your potatoes before planting . This just means that you get them to bourgeon before establish . It ’s really easy to do take a look in the telecasting below :
This spud causes faster growth after plant and an other harvest .
When To Plant Potatoes
spud may be planted as soon as the solid ground can be work in the former give . Potato flora will not set out to acquire until the grunge temperature has reach about 45 ° F or 7 ° C . Raised bottom , containers like tires and pots are all great for growing potatoes or you may plant straight in the ground . The soil should be damp , but not waterlogged so avoid constitute in heavy clay soils or that really lactating bit of your garden , the potatoes will rot .
Potatoes can tolerate a light frost , but you should render some freeze auspices like afloating row coverfor the plant if you know that a strong , later - time of year rime is issue forth .
How To Plant Potatoes
constitute a murphy is really easy . Dig a trench 5 inches ( 13 centimetre ) deeply with , add some compost and put the potatoes in it with the end with the most sprout ( the rose end ) confront up . set the murphy 12 inch apart in the row.-
Cover these potatoes with 3 to 4 inches ( 8 to 10 curium ) of soil and give them a urine . As the industrial plant grows but before it flower , earth up your potatoes by draw up grunge around the plants with a hoe in the early morning or by add together compost or mulch to the arise seam .
murphy grow really easily in containers and here are a couple usable on Amazon :
Containers are bully to spring up potatoes in if you are tight on distance . These containers allow you to raise pound of potatoes on a terrace , courtyard garden or balcony .
If planting in a container you may use an old trash can or dustbin , cask , a bag of compost , old tyre and anything else you cogitate would solve ! You want to put some compost into the container then add in the potato and cover up with compost . When the industrial plant grows up but before they blossom , add more compost on top and continue to do this until the plant are about 4 feet . Stacking tire work really well , placing a novel tyre on top and adding more compost .
It is authoritative to keep the potatoes ( the actual tubers ) extend to prevent them from forming the toxic compound solanine as they turn green .
There are a few common pests and disease which are common in potatoes . Potato Blight is one of the most common and notorious . Blight is common in humid areas but spreads quickly .
Black patches appear on the leaves which then arise borders of white powdery mildew . These are the spores of the disease which will spread to white potato and other members of the same family like love apple . The stirred leaf must be cut , not bring to the compost quite a little and the tubers leave in the land for 3 workweek . so forestall contaminating the potatoes . Ensuring that your potatoes are well covered when earthing up help to be certain that the tubers themselves are not bear on by the blight .
adjudicate to institute disease - tolerant varieties or early varieties to mature before the heat and humidness of summer cause the disease to spread out .
Colorado beetles hibernate late in the soil and emerge ahead of time in the summer to reproduce and lay eggs in the white potato vine foliation . The grubs of the Colorado beetle can wipe out a harvest and adults should be captured and dealt with betimes in the season to reduce the young .
Potato wart disease causes brown - black growths that cut across the surface of the potato . In Europe , plant fostering has created immune varieties so it is less common in the UK and Europe . If it does take place in your garden , you should strive to only grow tolerant varieties or do not grow potatoes on the land for 6 years in the Bob Hope that the disease croak out before you flora Solanum tuberosum again .
The scab was the effort of some rather disappointing potato harvests by some of my friends :
Scab pass off in alkaline territory or soils which have been recently limed . It only matters if you are growing potatoes for sales agreement as appearance means everything to the average consumer . you’re able to overcome scabby spuds with plenty of well - rotted compost and manure .
radical worms are unremarkably a job for monoculture crops maturate in the same earth class on year . Practice crop rotation and try growing marigold and tansy to dissuade the worm . If you get a forged plague , you may have to avoid grow potato in the area for 10 years or more .
Potato Varieties To Grow
There are lot and lots of variety of potatoes to grow and try . This year I ’m growing Viking Purple , Dark Red Norland , Red Thumb Fingerling and Russets . democratic variety to try include Charlotte , Kennebec , Rose Gold and Rote Erstling .
you could also endeavor to grow potato that have sprouted from the grocery store memory board .
When To Harvest Potatoes
harvest time potatoes when the halm ( foliage ) dies back . Baby potatoes can be glean 2 - 3 calendar week after the plant have finished flowering by carefully digging around the plants to remove white potato vine . try out to remove the biggest raw potatoes and leave the smaller potatoes in place so they can continue to maturate .
white potato that are going to be kept for memory should not be cut into up until 2 - 3 workweek after the foliage dies back . cautiously dig up the potatoes with a garden fork or upturn the container .
If the weather condition is ironic , permit the potatoes to sit outside unwashed for a couple of day to cure them . This heal whole tone will aid the potatoes keep better in storage . If the weather during harvest is unfavorable , cure the potatoes in a garage , or covered porch before storage .
Some additional lead and tricks for growing potatoes :
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