Cathi Barker (www.cathi.co.nz)

Growing Potatoes
Potatoes are so easy to grow, and a common item on any shopping list; so why not have a go at growing them yourself.

You can purchase seedling potatoes; which I am trying for the first time this year.
But in the past I simply used potatoes that had gone to seed in
my pantry.
Before planting potatoes you should leave them eyes upwards in a
cool light place for about 3-4 weeks. This enables the potatoes to
develop strong shoots or "chits" that will harden enough to withstand
being pushed into soil without snapping, this process is call
"chitting" not "*hitting" as my partner likes to refer to it. I put mine
near a window in the garage.
In the Garden
When you potatoes are ready for potting simply put them directly
into good composted soil about 10-20cm deep with the chits facing
skyward.
In Containers
The container must be at least 20-30cm deep, and a minimum of 30cm
diameter, sturdy and with drainage holes in the bottom. If you can protect
the container from frost, and start it off under cover early in the season,
planting can start as early as February, and finish as late
as July. The number of tubers you can plant in a container will depend on the
diameter of the pot, and the vigour of the variety. Try five in a dustbin sized container,
three in a 40 cm pot, one in a 25 cm diameter container.

Add 4-10cm of good quality compost (depending on the depth of the container).
Place the tubers on this, equally spaced around the edge of the container. Cover
with 10-20cm of compost.
As the potato shoots grow, add more compost. Continue this "earthing up" until the
compost is 4-5cm below the rim of the container. Watering can be the most difficult
aspect of growing potatoes in containers try to consistent in your watering not over or under
watering. You may need to water twice a day in the height of summer.

The trick is to keep mounding the compost up, leaving just 5-8cm of stem above the ground for
light. This encourages more potatoes and minimises the chances of green toxic potatoes. Also remove flowers as they
appear to encourage potatoes. As a general rule Potato plants that bear white or yellow flowers have white skins, while those varieties with coloured flowers such as pink, blue/purple tend to bear potatoes with pinkish skins

Harvesting Potatoes

Potatoes "chitting"

You don't want to harvest all of the potatoes at once. You will want to leave some potatoes to grow and be harvested later.
The best time is when the tops of the vines have died but before the first frost.
Water your potato garden very well after each harvest, as it is stressful on the plants .
Dig under the plants and be careful to not damage the potatoes in the digging process. Fresh potatoes are fragile,
so be very careful!
Lift the entire plant and shake the soil off of it. Pull the potatoes you want from the vine.
New potatoes are the small potatoes and these should be used immediately.
The bigger potatoes can be stored for later and can be kept for as long as six months, as long as you keep them in a cool,
dark place that has enough humidity.

Storing Potatoes
Don't rinse the potatoes before you store them, store in a bag that has holes in it.
Plastic bags, Hessian bags and brown paper bags work best for potato storage.
Store in a cool place that is dark and humid (or damp).
Avoid the refrigerator, as it will cause the potatoes to be too sweet.
You will also want to keep the potatoes away from the onions because when they are kept close to each other, they
produce gases that are harmful to both plants.

Potato Container

Cooking
Click to The Kitchen: Potatoes