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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "Douglas Willhite" <drwillhite@earthlink.net>
  • To: "Douglas & Hillary Willhite" <drwillhite@earthlink.net>
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Potato growing notes
  • Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2007 11:10:46 -0700


I grew potatoes in a plastic trash can: got the idea from a gardener in
Santa Barbara. Put in a foot of soil, then the seed potatoes, followed
by 6" of soil. As the stems and leaves grow, you keep adding soil,
keeping a healthy amount of stems and leaves above the soil. To
harvest, you tip the can over and pick out the potatoes.

Kim
SoCal
 
Potatoes turn green when they are exposed to the sun.
We plant our potatoes deep, maybe 4-5-6". When they
are about 6" tall we then "hill them up" by hoeing the
soil between the rows up around the plants. We also
put on heavy mulch (old hay) at this time. If you do
this you will minimize the number of potatoes that
will turn green. There will always be some that grow
close to the surface and turn green. Throw them across
the road.

Turning green is another reason we dig our potatoes
soon after the vines die back. Once they don't have
the shade from the leaves and the rain starts to
expose them they will turn green.

Someone made a comment about leaving them in the
ground till they develop a skin. Ours have a decent
skin on them by the time we dig. After digging I wheel
the cartload of potatoes into a shed or somewhere that
they get some air and will also be in the shade. After
a few days we haul them to the basement where we have
a big wood box on legs. The box has cracks between the
slats so that they get air.

I keep a close eye on them for a few weeks. If one
rots it will spread to the whole pile and all thats
left is mush. If you see any small flies around your
potatoes take them out one by one till you find the
bad one. Do this as many times as you have to.

That's what works for us.

Bob in Minnesota.
 
We planted our potatoes about a week/10 days ago. We
use these potatoes for storage so we don't want them
to be ready too soon. Have been doing this way for 32
years.

The way it works for us if we plant around May 20 the
vines will be dead by labor day. We dig them then. We
have found that if we wait much longer to dig the fall
rains will make digging a real problem.

We store these potatoes in our unheated basement. We
always have plenty left for next years seed. We are
still eating last years potatoes tho they are a little
soft and have long eyes now. If you peel them and put
them in a pan of cold water they crisp up just fine
and work for fried/mashed/boiled/potato salad. These
are Kennebecs.

Bob in Minnesota


  • [Livingontheland] Potato growing notes, Douglas Willhite, 06/03/2007

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