It is Potato Planting Time in Andy’s Garden

We’re blessed to live in a relatively mild part of the world where vegetable gardens can stay productive nearly year-round.

Gardening doesn’t have to be a seasonal activity here. Even during this cool part of the year, we can grow all sorts of vegetables like greens, carrots, turnips, peas and the like – right up through the spring.

But if the gardening “season” does have a beginning, it comes with the planting of potatoes. And that time is now.

According to local gardening lore, potatoes should be planted on or around Presidents’ Day, which falls on the third Monday in February each year. This year it’s Feb. 16. Potatoes can’t survive a hard freeze. And they don’t really like hot weather, either.

Ideally, potatoes should be planted as early as possible so that they reach maturity before temperatures get into the high 80s and 90s.

For the past few years, I’ve experimented with planting earlier than Presidents’ Day. I’m comfortable planting as early as the beginning of February.

Normally, potatoes are propagated by “seed” potatoes. These are just plain whole potatoes from last year’s crop. You can plant them whole. A more efficient method is to cut the seed potatoes into pieces, making sure that each piece has at least one “eye.” Each eye can grow into a new plant. Accordingly, all potatoes grown from the same seed potato are perfect clones of each other. If you cut your seed potato into pieces, allow the cuts to dry and “scab” over before planting. Some people say rolling the cut pieces in wood ashes prevents them from rotting in the soil.

Potatoes can be grown in raised beds or even in bags of soil. I grow mine the old fashioned way – in rows.

First, I dig a trench about five or six inches deep along the length of the row. I space each piece of seed potato about 12 inches apart in the rows, with each row spaced 30 inches apart. Then I cover the trench with soil.

Depending on the weather, I don’t normally water them in. We usually get enough rain in the late winter and early spring for potatoes to start growing without any irrigation. Over-watering them can lead to rot. But we’re in a drought. So I’ll probably water them in this year.

As the potatoes begin to grow, they should be “hilled up.” This involves using a hoe or some other implement to cultivate and mound up the soil on each side of the plant, creating a “hill.” Potatoes will grow new roots along the stalk and into the mound. Eventually, potato tubers will grow from these new roots. In my estimation, “hilling” potatoes increases the yield by double or more.

It’s possible to grow potatoes from ones you buy at the supermarket. But you’ll probably have much better luck growing them from seed potatoes sold at garden centers or farm and ranch stores. Local brick-and-mortar stores stock varieties that perform the best in this area.

It’s very important to practice crop rotation with potatoes. I never plant them in the same spot two years in a row. That’s a recipe for disaster with pests and diseases.