Content

• Steps
• Tips
• Warnings

Potatoes are the third most popular agricultural crop in the world, and also the main component of the diet of some peoples. Growing potatoes is easy and simple using the guidelines below.

Steps

1. 1 Purchase seed potatoes. Unlike most other crops, potatoes can be planted in two different ways.
   • Use seed potatoes. You can specially purchase small seed potatoes in a specialized gardening store, or you can use the leftover potatoes bought for food at the grocery store (the latter, however, does not guarantee that the potatoes will not be affected by any diseases that can flourish in the soil for years).
     • Using a sharp, not serrated knife, cut the potatoes into quarters so that there are no more than three eyes in each. Spread them out in the sun and leave them for a day or two, or until you notice that the eyes have begun to sprout.
     • DO NOT SOAK IN WATER, as some may! Potatoes do not have a hard peel that requires soaking (like some seeds), they themselves contain enough moisture to nourish the sprouts. Soaking poses a greater risk of rotting than anything beneficial! To prevent rotting from the potato, it is better to cut off the drying areas.
   • Use potato seeds. Some potato varieties develop small, highly poisonous berries on their tops, each of which can contain up to 300 seeds. Cut the berry and soak in water. After a couple of days, the seeds will separate and settle to the bottom.
2. 2 Prepare the soil. You can plant potatoes on an open plot of land, or you can place your plantation in large pots, in stacks of old tires, old chimney caps, etc. on the covered patio of your home. The main condition is that the soil used is free of weeds. In addition, you can add some compost or manure to the soil to enrich it with nutrients.
3. 3 Plant potatoes. Plan to plant another week before the last frost, as forecasted by weather forecasters. Colder nights will kill potential pests.
   • Submerge your seed potatoes or potato seeds about 1 inch (2.5 cm) into the ground and place a mound above them. Potatoes should be far enough apart so that they do not get tangled with roots during normal growth. As the potatoes grow, if you notice that they begin to stick out of the ground, huddle them. If the potatoes are exposed to sunlight, they will turn green and slightly toxic.
4. 4 Take care of the bushes. Taking care of your potatoes as they grow will ensure you have a healthy and edible harvest.
   • Watering your potatoes regularly is important for even growth. Watering once a week is usually normal, but you can do it more often if needed. If the leaves of the potato wither, then it does not have enough water. However, waterlogging is dangerous, it can lead to blackening of the potatoes.
   • Weed potatoes.
   • If you notice the formation of yellow spots or holes on the leaves of the potato, you may have pests. If you don't want to use pesticides, ask your garden store for other ways to get rid of pests naturally.
5. 5 Harvest your crops. Harvest your potato crop before the first frost and enjoy the flavor. Potatoes can generally be dug at different ripening stages. Early or young potatoes are dug 7-8 weeks after planting (when the first flowers appear on them). Dig in a potato bush (don't pull on the stems), pick out a few potatoes and let the rest grow.

Tips

• If you leave the potatoes in the ground, they may germinate the next year. While this may sound like a tempting idea, it’s a bad idea, as you don’t want to grow your potatoes in the same soil for two years in a row, this increases your risk of plant diseases due to soil depletion. Ideally, you should divide your garden into rotating sections of a variety of vegetables, incl. potatoes.

Warnings

• Do not eat green potatoes, green tops of potatoes and their berries, they are poisonous.
• Stony soils tend to produce oddly shaped potatoes, so it is best to remove all rocks from your plot if you want to grow uniformly shaped potatoes.