Our Potato Lifecycle

It took me a few years to get the hang of growing potatoes.

Typically, I'd plant them around the same time as everything else (late May), and the plants would be dead by midsummer, leaving a pile of tiny potatoes that weren't good for much.

The past couple of years, however, I have planted the seed potatoes in mid-April. By mid-May, they look like this:

We do have our share of pests. I find that a spray of Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew handles them. These guys are a bit gross!

I let them go a little longer than I should have. It pays to keep a close eye on the plants so the pests don't gain a foothold.

One of my techniques for weed control is a thick mulch. I use grass clippings from the yard, and our mower has a three-bushel capacity. It adds to the mowing time, but it makes a great, cost-effective mulch that keeps the weeds down and the taters covered.

By early June, we have this:

It is painless. We are blessed with sandy, loose soil where we plant the potatoes, which makes harvesting straightforward. I do hope to get a potato plow one day to put on the back of our two-wheel tractor, which will make the whole process even more exciting.

In the end, we harvested about 3 3/4 to 4 bushels of potatoes, with varieties including Norland Red, Yukon Gold, and German Butterball. We have found that the Yukon Golds get soft centers, usually due to moisture.

At harvest, I load the bushel baskets into my garden cart and hose the potatoes down. I leave them to dry and harden off in a dark space before packing them for long-term storage.

We store the potatoes in plastic storage totes, layered in pine shavings. Our front porch is unheated, but this method has allowed us to keep the potatoes safe all winter long. In fact, we often have potatoes left to replant!

We will probably simplify to just two varieties next year, which means less to keep track of. But we do love having potatoes all winter long!