Do not plant potatoes where tomatoes have been planted the previous year. Do not plant potatoes in the same place in succession. Grow potatoes in full sun with little or no shade.
Remove any flowers from the potato plant as this will divert energy away from the tubers.
Potatoes are generally grown from the eyes of another potato and not from seed. The tubers need to be chitted (i.e. sprouted), in order to accelerate their maturity and shorten the growing time needed to get a good crop of new tubers.
How to chit potatoes
In late winter to early spring, place the tubers in an old egg-box, or lay them out in a tray. Position them so that the end or face with the largest number of eyes is facing up to the light. This is called the ‘rose’ end. The ‘rose’ end of the potato is the end that was not attached to the original plant. It is smooth. The other end of the potato is slightly more pointed and has a scar where it was joined to the plant whilst growing in the earth
Place the trays in an unheated, frost-free room, in filtered light (not direct sunlight).
By our calculations*, you should look at sowing Potato about 14 days before your last frost date .
Plant your chitted potatoes out when the soil has begun to warm up.
Planting potatoes into a garden bed
Dig a trench about 10cm deep (main crop may need a little deeper, and earlies a little shallower). Sprinkle in some fertiliser and then place the seed potatoes with the shoots pointing upward 30cm apart for earlies, 40-50cm apart for maincrop. Cover with a thin layer of soil. As soon as the shoots appear, “earth up” by making a mound of soil around the shoot so the shoot itself is just buried – do this regularily throughout the season until the mound reaches around 15cm in height.
By our calculations*, you should look at planting out Potato about 14 days before your last frost date.
Potatoes are ready for harvest when the foliage starts to die down and turn yellow. For new potatoes, harvest a couple of weeks after the first flowers show. Main crop potatoes are ready for harvest in mid autumn. Remove all soil clinging to the potato and leave on top of the soil for a couple of hours to dry out and store in boxes.
While it is uncommon for home gardeners to save true potato seed, it is both possible and easy. Pollinated potato flowers develop large, round seed pods. Harvest when dry, break open, and save the enclosed small seeds.
Plant / transplant on a schedule similar to bell peppers.
These estimates for how long Potato takes to sprout, grow and harvest are from real observations from real gardeners, right around the world.
Average 18 days | Min 3 days | Max 49 days (492)
Average 7 days | Min 2 days | Max 72 days (7)
Average 118 days | Min 43 days | Max 197 days (233)
Our when to plant Potato estimates are relative to your last frost date.
The English word potato comes from Spanish patata.
Potatoes, Tatties, Potties, Patate, Potato
Solanum andigena
Misspellings: Potatoe, Potatoes, Potatos, Potoato