Planting Potatoes

I'm kinda happy....I have the top left of our main garden planted already! According to my planned garden rotation, the top left was to be planted totally in potatoes.

I got it done this morning, weeeeeee!

I knew it had to be time to plant the potatoes because when I looked in the bags, they looked like this! Yikes! Sprouting all over the place.....as far as the soil goes, as long as it's not too wet, you can put your taters in.....they'll come up when they're good and ready!

There's lots of way to grow potatoes, people have their own special process that they follow....here's mine.

You want your potato to have at least 3 eyes on it....they don't have to be in full sprout like in this picture, but they should have 3 sprouts started at least.

Some people cut their potatoes, or put two in the same hole....as long as I have 3 eyes or more, I toss that baby in the hole.

Try to plant them sprout (or eye) pointing UPPPPPP.

And remember, ALL the potatoes you will get off of one plant will grow Between the Seed potato and the surface of the soil. This means you should dig fairly deep holes, and/or hill the heck out of your potatoes....

In the main garden, I was able to plant 1 1/2 row of Banana (Fingerling) Potatoes, 1 row of Seigland Potatoes and 6 1/2 rows of Russets.....this is in addition to the 10 1/2 rows of potatoes that I planted in the smaller Animal Garden yesterday.

If we're lucky, we'll have LOTS of potatoes come harvest time. In the cold room, we still have one 50 lb. feed bag full of russets from last year.

I'll either keep on planting, or more likely, we'll cook them up pot by pot for the piggies. Anything to save on trips to the feed store!!!

The ONLY thing that will need to be done with these plants is to hill them (I try for 3 times) as they green leaves grow. To hill them, just use a hoe and bring the dirt up tight around each plant. Remember, the more and higher you can hill, the more yield you should get....once the tops die down and turn yellow and brown, you can harvest them.

You can also cheat a bit and steal a couple potatoes while they are growing. After they flower, I sometimes just feel around in the soil and nab a couple. Awesome when they are fresh out of the garden. Don't disturb the plant too much, and it will just keep on growing....

Next up, I think will be planting the peas. I plant these around the fence of the main garden, plus at least 1 double row in the garden itself. But for now, I'm off to sit on the deck for a minute and enjoy a cold glass of juice!

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