How to Grow Potatoes in Your Garden
Table of Contents
Very few people in this world do not like French fries. They are probably the best thing ever made to complement a burger or fast food of any sort. While the debate over French fries or onion rings is still hot and, to be honest, an ever-ending topic, I would personally vote for French fries.
But why are we talking about French fries anyway? Because today we will be learning the process of growing and harvesting good quality potatoes that make delicious French fries. Well, it is not just the French fries that make potatoes necessary. Potatoes are vital ingredients in a lot of food cuisines around the world. Not to mention, drinks like tequila and gin are also made from potatoes.
Anyways, enough of how important potatoes are (I guess we are on common grounds now), let us discuss how to grow potatoes at home. We will learn the art of growing delicious and perfect-sized tomatoes (so perfect that you would reconsider consuming them) in a step-by-step process.
So, let us get on with it. Shall we?
Steps for Growing Potatoes at Home
The preceding section will step by step guide to help you grow your very own potatoes that you can use in your countless number of dishes.
Step 1: Selecting A Seed Potato
A new potato plant is grown from a parent potato, which we call” seed potato.” As the name suggests, these potatoes are used as seeds when it comes to growing potatoes. The first and essential step to grow potatoes is to select the best quality seed potatoes that are growth supportive and healthy.
Please refrain from using green-colored potatoes as they are not suitable for consumption because they lead to health issues. So, it would help if you got a good-sized seed potato from your nearest farm store.
Please do not buy the potatoes from supermarkets meant for consumption as they are treated and do not support growth. Also, check for early sprouts in your seed potatoes.
Early sprouts indicate that you can plant your potato early and do not need to wait for it to sprout for growth when you get one without early sprouts.
You can also borrow some seed potatoes from your acquaintances who do farming or grow potatoes in their backyard. Remember, if you execute this step wrong, then the whole process of growing potatoes will be affected adversely.
Step 2: Tilling the Land
The next step on “how to grow potatoes at home” is to prepare the land for cultivating the potatoes. You will have to till the land so that it is cultivable and capable of absorbing moisture.
Tilling also leads to loosening up the soil, making it aerated adequately for young plants’ growth. This is especially important when growing a tuber plant. It would help if you tilled your land twice.
Once a week before sowing the potato and the second time when you are sowing it. This will help you ensure that the soil is reduced into grain-sized molecules that will support your plant’s growth.
Step 3: Prepare the Manure
There is only so much that a good climate and water can do for your plant. Your plant will also need some growth enhancers, and there is no natural substitute for using manures for this same reason.
Manures are generally prepared from wasteful biodegradable wastes. After undergoing fermentation, these wastes provide a lot of nutrients and moisture to the growing potatoes.
Moreover, these manures are also beneficial in giving the cultivable soil a decent growth supportive density.
Step 4: Chitting The Seed Potatoes
Once you have selected the right seed potatoes, it is time for you to chit them so that the sprout grows in the desired manner. For chitting your potatoes, you need to keep them in the sunlight for some days.
Ensure that the side consisting of most sprouts or the rose end is facing the top and facing the sun. You can also cut the seed potato into two or more pieces, with each piece consisting of two to three eyes and sprouts.
This can be done to ensure that the potatoes are grown of perfect size as a single seed potato with many eyes can grow into a multi-stemmed plant, which will leave low energy to be stored in the potatoes. Cutting the seed potatoes depends on you and is your call, but chitting it will be necessary even then.
Step 4: Planting the Potato
The next step in growing potatoes at home is to plant them finally. Ensure that the seed potatoes have the right number of sprouts on them of the right size to grow into a healthy plant, before planting, till the land for the second time and check for the soil ph.
The soil’s pH should be anywhere between 6.2 to 6.8, meaning they need to be acidic. If the soil does not possess the desired characteristics, then you can use fertilizers for the same.
Ensure that you have planted your potatoes at 12 inches from each other (to make sure that the potatoes do not compete for nutrients and water) and that they are buried 6 inches deep under the ground.
Even better, map out the planting pattern beforehand so that the planting process goes smoothly, and you do not have to do it all over again.
You will require some tools and a pair of gloves for this process. But all these tools are easily accessible as they are essential gardening equipment.
Step 5: Irrigate It Properly
Irrigation is an essential aspect of gardening, and I cannot emphasize how important it is for your young potatoes. After planting the potato, make sure that you rinse it properly. Irrigation is not a one-time process, and you will have to do it regularly.
So, make sure to list this task on your calendar so that you do not miss it. Make sure to rinse it for at least 1 inch per week.
You follow all these steps rightly and in the right order, and just like that, you will get yourself a luscious green yard of potatoes. These potatoes will taste like success to you, and what would be more satisfying than telling your guests that the potato you are enjoying is grown in-house.
But what if you do not have a garden? or have planted other things in that space? How to grow potatoes at home now? That is the best thing about potatoes, it does not require big plots of land to grow, and you grow in something as small as a pot or a grow bag.
Growing Potato in A Pot or A Grow Bag
Growing bags and pots could be a lot of help when it comes to growing potatoes if you lack space. You can buy grow bags or pots from your nearest stores and supermarkets.
All the steps involved in growing potatoes in a bag or a pot are the same, except there is no need to till and prepare the land. You can either prepare the soil or buy the already prepared version from stores.
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When using grow bags, make sure to make small holes in the bag to be well-drained, and the plant does not suffer. Make sure that the potato is buried 6 inches deep in the bag or the pot.
Pots and bags can be an excellent way to start with growing potatoes if the farm or the garden is already sown with other plants.
Conclusion
These are some steps on how to grow potatoes at home. Be very careful while watering the potatoes as both over-irrigation and under irrigation are not suitable for it.
Once the crop is fully grown and the potatoes are ready for consumption, collect a new batch of seed potatoes from this yield.
This is dome because you are sure that the potatoes are not treated with chemicals. Protect your potatoes from fungi and other types of pests by using proper pesticides in the right quantity.
Growing potatoes in pots and bags could be an effective way to grow potatoes if you have never grown them in the past and want to try them out. I hope by now, you know how to grow potatoes at home.
