New Sprout Organic Farms is a farm in Black Mountain, NC. They supply most of the supermarkets around here with year round organic sweet potatoes. They also sell a whole range of organic produce as well as seed potato:

They sell a lot of different varieties. I went for 1lb of four different types. From left to right: Rose Finn Apple, Mountain Rose, German Butterball, and All Blue.

I’m going to grow some dug into soil, some in grocery bags and some under straw. Here is the straw version:

It’s pretty easy. Lay about 6″ of straw on top of the potatoes and water. As the plant peeks through keep layering on the straw. The straw is great for water retention and makes harvest a breeze:
The green plants at the back of the bed are beans, a good potato companion.

7 weeks to ‘new’ potatoes…

Timing is everything when it comes to growing potatoes. They don’t do well when temperatures reach into the 90′s, so make sure you get them into the ground early enough or choose different varieties that mature faster, such as the Red Norland or Yukon Gold.  Full potato plants can actually keel over and die if temperatures get to high. Plus, the high temps can limit the amount of tuber growth, resulting in low yields.  I generally try to get potatoes in the ground about two to three weeks before the last frost, this ensures enough growing time.  Another trick to speeding up the process is to let your potatoes sit in a bright window for a couple of days to a week to get it to sprout.

I usually grow potatoes directly in the ground, but there are multiple ways that you can grow potatoes, like in barrels, with straw or in containers. Potatoes prefer a slightly lower pH than most other vegetable crops, around 5.5, and they prefer slightly acidic soils. Potatoes will benefit with the addition of compost and other organic fertilizers that are high in nitrogen, such as alfalfa meal. Two days before I am ready to plant I’ll cut the potato into pieces – try to leave one to two eyes or buds on each piece. Cutting them ahead of time allows the cut to dry and lessen the chance of them rotting in the ground. After they have dried and are ready to plant, they go into the ground about 12 inches apart and in shallow trenches about 4 inches deep.

When potatoes start to sprout, make sure to water regularly. As they grow you’ll want to start hilling. When plants are about 6 to 7 inches tall, pile loose soil around the plant. This will not only cover the root, but it will help to support plants. You will need to continually hill around plants as they grow. Hilling also helps to prevent tubers from turning green. When the tops of the plants (or the foliage) starts to die off, you’ll know it’s harvest time. But don’t dig them up just yet. Leave potatoes in the ground until the foliage has had a chance to completely die down. The extra time underground helps the potatoes skin to toughen. When it’s finally time to harvest, I usually just dig the potatoes up with my had, that way i don’t damage any with the shovel.

Any potatoes that are really small, slightly damaged or have skin that is peeling should be used quickly because they won’t store well. Potatoes that are green can be saved for seed, but I don’t recommend eating them. If you have enough to store, make sure they have dried out completely, then you will want to store them in a very cool area with high humidity, and generally in the dark.

PESTS & DISEASES:

Colorado Potato Beetle like to munch on the foliage of plants. The adults are yellow with black stripes, and the larvae are dark red/orange with black spots. If you see any of these – CRUSH THEM. Also, check bottoms of leaves for bright orange egg masses – get rid of any that you see. Aphids are also known to bother potato plants. If you see these little guys either use your garden hose and spray them off or use an insecticidal spray, such as neem oil.

Rotating your crop each year will help keep diseases out of your garden. Also starting with certified seed potatoes will lessen the risk of disease. Scab is a common disease that affects potatoes. Scab is caused from a fungus in the soil, keeping the soil pH below 5.5 will help.  Late blight is caused from water mould and can destroy whole plants.  Late blight acts fast and can destroy whole crops. Get rid of and destroy any infected foliage right away. If your crop is badly infected, cut and remove all foliage, but try to wait a couple of weeks before you dig up the potatoes. By this time, infected blight spores below will have died off.

Have questions or want to trade spuds? Stop down at Big Bloom Hydroponics in Tonawanda, New York. We’re here seven days a week and just minutes from the border. Happy Growing!

If you garden with primary school children you can register for free seed potatoes from the Potato Council.

It’s too late for this year but you can be uber-organised and register now for 2014

Garlic fills the other beds. I still have more that I had set aside to plant, but there is no room. It will easily be eaten by the next harvest anyway…at least 2 cloves go in each hearty winter dish around here!

And last but not least, window herbs. A tiny bit of parsely and basil. Enough to make me feel as though my thumb is still green-ish.

So, every year, our board walks around to check that everyone’s back patio is compliant.  And every year, we get a letter explaining why we are not in compliance.  Once we didn’t ask permission to mulch and they considered that landscaping.  Big no, no.  The next year we were cited because we hadn’t weeded yet.  In fairness, we hadn’t.  But that was the year I was pregnant and when my water broke 3 months early and I was on bed rest in the hospital for 3 weeks, weeding just wasn’t on my mind. They’ll be coming around on Wednesday, so today Jon and began our patio’s annual spring transformation.  And, by golly, we are following all the rules because I’m sick of getting letters! 

A couple of years ago, I found an entry on Heavenly Homemakers about growing potatoes in a garbage can.  Really!  How awesome is that?  But we are not allowed to keep a garbage can on our patio, regardless of its contents.  But we can keep a big ½ barrel on my patio…

Yesterday, we purchased this beauty and 3 more just like it.

First we drilled ¼ inch holes in the bottom for drainage.

Next, we filled the bottom with about 5 inches of soil and added some water to make it moist.

In go the seed potatoes…

I just have to share a picture of these aliens close up.

Then we covered the seed potatoes with about 3 inches of soil and then watered them.

Now we wait.  I’ll keep you posted.

Happy Homesteading,

Kris

Today as I’m perusing the pantry for a nibble, I notice that my organic yukon potatoes that I bought a few weeks back to make mashed potatoes out of are sprouting!  Cool!  They are large, so I cut 2 in half, making sure to include at least two eyes on each piece.  This will be one type of potatoes that I attempt to grow and then I will return this weekend to the farmers market to buy the All Blue variety for my other fabric grow pot.

First put 4-6 inches of organic soil in your pot.  Then place potatoes (if cut, then cut side down) on top of the soil.  Some say to wait a day after cutting to allow the potatoes to scab over, but I’ve read that this isn’t necessary.  As long as the potatoes stay damp and not wet, they will grow just fine.

Put another couple inches of soil on top of the potatoes, a little less in the colder climates.  At this point my grow pots are only about half way filled with soil, which is perfect because once those leaves emerge, I will continue adding soil in stages.  More on that when it happens!  Since the grow pots are fabric and only filled halfway, the sides were flopping all around.  To allow the most amount of sun to the potatoes, I rolled the sides inward all the way around the pot.

My little blog marked it’s 600th hit today.  Yippee!