All About Spuds

It’s no secret that the soil out here is nearly perfect for growing spuds. The sandy loam has just the right drainage and looseness that allows potatoes to grow without the obstructions of rocks and stones found in other farming soils.

The climate is also great since we have a relatively long growing season that allows for the growing of many different kinds of potatoes. After the spring rains, most summers are dry with moderately warm temperatures.

Bonus for parents: potatoes are easy to grow and great fun for young kids who can plant them, then try to figure out why they don’t dangle from the emerging stems.

The one thing that had kept me from growing my own potatoes in the past was the omnipresent Colorado potato beetle, whose larval and adult stages could devour a field in no time, but now simple applications of organic controls can make the beetle a mere nuisance.

There has been another change though. Through suppliers such as Ronniger’s, which is merging with Milk Ranch Specialty Potatoes to form Potato Garden, there are now dozens and dozens of potato varieties that home gardeners can experiment with. So we have the best of all worlds—a crop that can be fun and easy to grow that also has a great range of culinary and gastronomic appeal.

Potato culture is fairly easy and straightforward. The biggest mistake that gardeners seem to make is in planting too early. There’s no rush. While you may hear rumors of people planting “if the soil is ready” just after St. Patrick’s Day, don’t do it! Wait until at least late April or early May.

Now is the time to choose which varieties you want to use and to place your “seed” orders. If you need a rule of thumb for when to actually plant, your earliest planting might be done just when the daffodils bloom and the main planting should be held off until the first dandelions flower.

Potato seeds are not seeds at all. When we talk about potato seed, we’re really referring to a potato tuber that is cut into sections.

Each section has one or more eyes where sprouting will take place. These sections are planted in shallow trenches at a depth of about 3½ to 4½ inches.

As a general rule, 10 pounds of seed potatoes will plant a row about 100 feet long. But this can vary depending on the variety. Your spuds will come with complete instructions on planting and harvesting.

Not knowing many of the tricks of spud cultures and wanting to learn from trial and error, in my first year I had little inkling of when the crop would be ready. Unlike other vegetable crops there were no “days-to-harvest” indications, but there were some clues to start scratching at the plant’s sides some seven to eight weeks (this varies by variety) from planting.

In the seventh week, I began to practice my scratch technique, but no tiny treasures. In the eighth week, I tried again. Feeling around like a blind man, I pulled at what I assumed was a rock or clod of dirt only a few inches below the soil. Sure enough, out came a 2-inch Red Dale.

The search resumed with earnest determination.

Each plant gave up four to eight small but beautiful spuds. And now that I knew where and how deep to feel around, I was popping out taters like golf balls.

My first foray yielded about 10 pounds and I was simply amazed. But an unanswered question remained. Now that I had my harvest, what would I do with the plants that were still in the ground?

Most folks wait until the foliage begins to brown, then they harvest the whole crop at once. I pulled one plant out to examine the pea-like tubers that were still in the developmental stages and examined the fairly shallow and fibrous root system. Satisfied that the plant was nowhere near finished being productive, I replanted it and apologized.

I waited a week and then began scratching again. This time there were even more spuds—some were just slightly smaller than my fist, but most were still golf-ball sized, which was normal for this variety. I repeated this routine every four or five days and by early August the plants were browning, exhausted and begging for rest. In the end, the small bag of 2½ pounds of seeds that I’d started with in May produced nearly 50 pounds of potatoes by August, yielding lots of the freshest potato salad that could be had.

Yes, there were some problems, but none were insurmountable. A couple of the seeds rotted before they sprouted. And the plant that I pulled up for examination in week eight never quite got over the shock and produced somewhat less than the other plants.

Like ball bearings attracted to magnets, the potato beetles showed up. First there were one or two, then six, then eggs and larvae. I decided to take aggressive, but organic, retaliation. Leaves with egg masses were pinched off and trashed. Sprays of pyrethrin did in the immatures and adults. Persistence was the imperative.

The first rule of vegetable gardening was followed the next year and our Red Dales and two other varieties were rotated to another distant section of the garden. Never plant potatoes in the same place every year, and try to keep them out of the same soil that tomatoes and eggplants have been planted in.

Now you can go to the market and buy your spuds but you’ll see a half-dozen varieties at most, while at home you can grow literally dozens of varieties that range in taste, color, size, maturity and storage possibilities. And of course, there are heirlooms to tempt your palate.

A few words of caution. Always buy certified seed potatoes. This certification means that the seeds are disease- and virus free.

And no, you can’t take a supermarket potato and slice it up and plant it. They’ve been treated to prevent them from sprouting during storage.

Order your seeds without delay and keep growing.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s hardiness zone map has been updated and is now available at planthardiness.ars.usda.gov. According to the USDA, the map is generally one 5-degree half zone warmer than the previous map.