Saturday, March 17, 2012

Potato Planting Time





For us nothing is better than home grown potatoes. Every year we try to get our seed potatoes in around the middle of March or St. Patrick's Day. We wait for a nice day when the sun is shining and   the soil is not too wet and plant our presprouted potatoes. For the last few years we have started planting our own seed potatoes rather than buying seed potatoes. We are planting potatoes in both the new North garden this year and the old garden. This new North garden was just plowed last year and is some of the prettiest soil on the farm. An old dairy farm lot surrounded by hay fields. It has a beautiful view looking out over the surrounding countryside.
What a gorgeous setting to a day of gardening chores. 



The potatoes are chitted and waiting in dish pans by the back door  for us. When I was a kid my parents covered their potatoes in garden sulfur to reduce rotting but I no longer do that and rarely have problems. But for this year our potatoes are sprouted, cut and ready to go. 25 pounds of organic seed potatoes would run anywhere from $18 to $25 should you purchase them. We saved ourselves that money by growing our own.  We have found that when we save our own potatoes we deal with far fewer potato diseases than when we purchase seed potatoes. 


First we tie a string to two metal stakes and mark a row to follow.  This keeps our rows somewhat straight. Then we take a hoe and make a trench or furrow about 6 inches deep in the soil along the string. 



Then the sprouted potatoes are laid in the bottom of the trench and the soil pulled loosely on top of the potatoes.  We try to be as careful as possible not to break off those tender sprouts. 



We planted two 100 foot rows in the new garden and about 50 feet in the old garden that was left over. Hoping that with a little cooperation from mother nature that we will have another bumper crop this year. Plenty for those potato dishes throughout the winter and some leftover to plant for next year. 


Mother Nature helped us out that night by watering them in!




 Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter



4 comments:

  1. Awesome! Good luck and congratulations on getting them in. :)

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  2. I have fond memories of digging up potatoes when I was a child. Of course, I have even better memories of my grandmama standing at the stove cooking them. :-)

    Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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  3. Today or an couple days after St. Patrick's day was when my Grammy always planted her potatoes! She was Irish and always told us stories why!

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  4. I bet those potatoes taste better than any I've ever had. Congrats on getting it done. Enjoy those taters!

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