Though we've been growing food for about 6 years now, we only just did a potato crop for the first time last year, and it was a complete success! Potatoes are extremely easy to grow, have great yields for very little effort, and are an excellent staple crop that is very easily stored.
Preparing to plant!
Potatoes will grow just about anywhere- in containers, in old tractor tires, in hay, in your compost pile, or any ol' garden bed. The easiest way (apparently, we haven't tried it yet but want to!) is to just stick them in a mound of hay, let it do its thing, and come harvest time you don't have to work it out of the dirt, you just pull potatoes right out of the hay! The only rule you really need to follow is making sure none of the potatoes are exposed to light. Light turns potatoes green, and the green part is slightly toxic. The way we prefer to plant them is in dirt, in a slight hole (rather than a mound), and cover the dirt with a good bit of hay. As the tubers grow, if any peek up through the dirt, you can just add more dirt or hay to keep them in the dark. Anyways, getting ahead of myself here. All you need is some good, loose soil, and they'd love some compost if you have it (or can buy it).
And of course, you need some potatoes! You can buy "seed" potatoes at garden stores or online nurseries, which are no different from what you'd buy at the grocery store, except they are probably already sprouting out the eyes. If you can't find true seed potatoes, you can use potatoes from the grocery store, but you're better off buying organic potatoes (better chance that they are not a hybrid variety; you can't save seed from hybrids to use for next year). (If you buy potatoes from the grocery store, wait until they sprout before you get ready to plant them. Some store bought potatoes are treated with an anti-sprouting spray.) Last year we grew organic Russian Banana fingerlings. This year we are trying Yukon Golds. Larger potatoes (like Russets) need a longer growing season, so keep that in mind when choosing a variety.
24 hours before you want to plant them in the ground, you will need to cut the potatoes into pieces, with about 3 eyes per piece. Let them sit overnight in a bowl or paper bag to allow the cut edges to dry, which will protect them from molding in the ground.
Planting day!
The best thing about planting potatoes is that you really can't screw it up. As long as the ground isn't frozen anymore, you're good to go. Roots and seeds know when the time is right for them to start growing. If it's too cold for them, they won't grow until it's warm enough. Smart, huh? On planting day, you'll want to dig a hole about 3" deep, and the width of your shovel. Put one piece of potato in each hole, and make each hole about three feet apart. The spacing might seem wide, but trust me, the foliage will get huge, and the potatoes need lots of room! If they cant grow outwards, they'll grow down, which means more digging come harvest time. Fill the hole back in with the dirt, add some compost if you've got it, and cover with about 2" of hay just over the hole (you can find bales at feed stores, which will have the best certified seed free hay). If you don't want to use hay, you'll need to plan the potato a few inches deeper in the dirt. If you want to do them in containers, you'll need a quite wide container, as there needs to be plenty of room for those potatoes to grow!
The Waiting Game...
Different varieties take different lengths of time to get to harvest time, but the time between planting and harvest is really pretty easy. Keep them watered, don't let the soil get bone dry, and if any tubers start peeking out into the light, cover them up with more dirt and/or hay (Hay is easier cause it's a whole lot easier to remove at harvest time than a whole lot of dirt!). Potato foliage is beautiful, the flowers are really pretty (not all plants will flower, so don't freak out if yours don't), and some will even form little seed pods that look remarkably like tomatoes. But BE FOREWARNED! ALL parts of the potato plant EXCEPT the potatoes themselves are POISONOUS!!! Potatoes are a member of the nightshade family, so if you have a curious kiddo who happens to like green tomatoes, keep an eye on them that they don't stick a potato seed pod in their mouth (been there, done that with Wyatt!).
Potato blossoms!
Their foliage is so big and beautiful! (That's only about 5 plants!)
When the summer is waning, the foliage of the plant will start to yellow- that means it's harvest time!!! You don't have to worry about frost as long as they are in the ground. You probably want to get them out of the dirt before it snows, but that's more a matter of convenience ;) When you harvest, it's easiest to cut the foliage down so it's out of your way, and pull away the hay (it's all great for your compost pile!). Be very careful as you dig, because scraping the skin of the potato will shorten the length of time you can store it. The easiest way to safely loosen the dirt is to dig in a wide circle around each plant, loosening the dirt with a spade (like you would do to till a garden bed), but be careful when you put the shovel into the ground, push it in slowly so you don't chop a potato in half. Then, it's a bit like a treasure hunt! Break up chunks of dirt by hand, and be sure to go through the dirt all around the plants, because stray potatoes might have decided they liked a bit of privacy and gone deeper or further to the side of the plant than you might expect. Once you think you've gotten them all, dig a little deeper just to be sure. If you've planted in containers, you might even dump the whole container out on the ground to get every last little tuber. Discard any potatoes with lots of green on them. If there are potatoes with just little bits of green on an end, you can still eat those, just cut the green bit off before cooking.
Unfortunately, you probably don't want to cook a potato straight out of the ground. They will be much better, and will do better in long term storage, if you let them dry in darkness for several days up to several weeks, to dry the skin (don't wash them!!!). We put ours in cardboard boxes in layers between newspapers, and stuck them in the closet. After this time, they are ready to eat and store!!!
Storing your harvest
Potatoes do best in darkness and dry coolness, in a very well ventilating container. Brown paper bags are not ventilated enough, unfortunately... Wood boxes are probably best. You can also store them in sand, or burlap sacks, though I don't recommend buckets, even with loose lids. That's what we did, and all the potatoes we saved for seed to plant this spring ended up liquefied. GROSS! If you don't have a cool garage or basement, a dark cabinet will do, but if you have a big harvest, you'll need to find a cool space to keep them. Don't put potatoes in the fridge though!!! Too cold, and the starch will turn to sugar, and while I love sweet potatoes, a sweet regular potato is not so tasty... Only wash potatoes right before you cook them.
Last year, we planted 10lbs of potatoes in 48 holes, had 46 plants come up (We think the two that didn't grow were dug up by the dog), and got 55lbs of potatoes from those 46 plants. Pretty freakin awesome!!! This year we are planting 20lbs! Yay!!!
One of many boxes of our Russian Banana Fingerlings! Yum!!!
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