How to Plant Potatoes? – A Simple Gardening Guide
How to plant potatoes? It is a real question that we gardeners face, and here is a simple guide to grow perfect tomatoes and live a healthy life.
Have you ever been so busy and feeling stressed about life that you want to start a refreshing hobby? Have you ever dreamed of harvesting fresh, healthy, and juicy fruits and vegetables from your garden? Have you ever considered starting your mini green oasis at home?
Do you have a garden? A small plot? In this time of pandemic wherein, people are refrained from going outside their houses. Starting to grow your vegetables like potatoes that you can use in different dishes is probably one of the best ideas you can think of, but do you have any idea how to cultivate some of these healthy treats?
But first, let us familiarize ourselves with this crop.
Reasons to Grow Potatoes? and Health Benefits
Potatoes are known as root crops, but technical, these are starchy modified stems that are called tubers, which grows short stems (stolons) on their lower parts. They thrive on colder seasons and climates all around the world.
Potatoes are composed of phytonutrients, organic components of a plant (includes carotenoids, flavonoids, and caffeic acid) that promote health. It also has vitamin C, which acts as an antioxidant and prevents cell aging and common colds.
Potato also helps in digestion, blood pressure, heart health, and cancer prevention. B6 vitamins from this crop help create useful brain chemicals such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. It could help people suffering from depression, stress, and even Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
It is crucial to know the foods and vegetables we eat, their health implications, and the alternative foods that can save our health and body, such as vegetables and fruits. Some hobbies are also useful to relieve stress, anxiety, and even mental clarity. Good mental health can contribute to having a healthy body. Starting your vegetable garden is one of the easiest and most fun ways.
According to the Department of Agriculture (United States), potatoes are the 4th most consumed crop in the whole world and the 1st in the U.S next to rice, wheat, and corn. Just like any other plant, tomatoes can also grow at home, given the optimal conditions needed to survive. Potatoes could do almost everything, all your favourites, mashed, fried, steamed, hashed and or even as an ingredient of your dishes.
How to Plant Potatoes From Seedes?
Green thumbs must include the following minimum requirements to improve their crop. A gardener must have healthy potato seeds (the sprouted portion of a potato that you plant in the ground), a source of light (bright sunlight), sufficient water, premium quality soil, regular fertilization, and an appropriate pot.
When to Plant Potatoes?
Even with an imperfect soil situation, fortunately, this crop is very respectable, and could still bear worthy potatoes. Potatoes, however, produces the best one when planted on a light, loose and well-drained soil that is about 45°- 55°F (7° to 13°C) and always do best in the full sun (at least 6-7 hours of sunlight each day). Potatoes could be planted in the early gardening season, as soon as there is no longer frost in your soil. Some regions plant early in mid-April and some treat potatoes as a winter crop ranging from September to February).
Here are some Gardening tips about gardening. other than the How to Plant Potatoes?
How to Plant Potatoes From Eyes?
Now that you know the prerequisites in these small Farmville moments. The real question is, How to plant tomatoes at home? There are just several steps to remember.
Before the planting date, about a week or two, place your potato seeds in an area continuously hit by sun rays for six consecutive hours per day; this will begin the sprouting process. For best results, make sure that the temperature is about 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit. The best ones to use are starter seed potatoes—select potatoes with protruding eyes or buds.
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Cut the Potatoes Into Small Pieces
The day before the planting, make sure to use a clean and sharp knife in slicing the large potatoes in smaller pieces for about 2 inches in length with at least 1 to 2 eye buds. If the potato is about the size of a golf ball, it is ideal for planting it whole.
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Plant Potatoes in a Row
Potatoes best grow in rows. Dig a shallow trench that is 2 to 3 feet apart. In a prepared soil, place a seed potato piece every 12 to 14 inches and cover it with 3 to 4 inches of soil. You can decrease the plant’s placing if you plan to grow baby potatoes and have minimal space. As the plant grows, continue to pour an additional amount of soil to cover it.
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Cultivate the Soil
Always make sure to cultivate the soil. Remove any weeds that could cause the earth to loosen up; this will allow the planted potatoes to grow more quickly and grow healthier.
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Watering in Summer
During the summer, keep the vines of your potato well hydrated by watering it most, especially when the crop is flowering and immediately after the flowering stage. This stage is when the plant is developing its tubers. That’s why a stable water supply is crucial at this point.
The crop needs to be watered heavily once the tubers are already formed. Stop watering to prepare on harvesting time only when the foliage turns yellow and begins to die back.
After a few weeks, longer shoots will emerge from the ground. For this reason, it is best to mound several inches of soil around the stem (earthing up or hilling) so that it will not let the tubers be exposed to the sunlight for too long. Doing this will prevent the tubers from turning green and creating a compound called solanine, which is responsible for its bitter taste and make it inedible. -
Keep checking
Before the harvesting period, toughen up the potatoes by not watering them. Dig up a little bit of a test hill only to see mature the potatoes are. The skin is much thick and firmly attached to the flesh of a seasoned potato. You will know that the potato is still young when the coats are thin and quickly rubbed off; this means that the vegetables should be left alone to the ground to grow more.
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Harvesting again
2 to 3 weeks after the plants are finished flowering, baby potatoes typically can be harvested. Be careful in being not too intrusive in collecting it by gently digging around it. Do not take all the vegetables. Gardeners may start removing the bigger potatoes and leave the smaller ones so that they can continue growing. If you want fresh potatoes, only harvest the crops you can consume, but if you plan to store them, do not take them up until 2 or 3 weeks after the foliage dies.
Dig potatoes on a dry day, and be careful not to harm the tubers. When the soil is wet, air dry the potatoes before putting them on a bag and storing them to prevent it from rotting. Also, do not let the crops be exposed in sunlight long after you harvest it. -
How Long are Potatoes Good For
For its storage, let the fresh potatoes sit in a cool place with 40-60 degrees Fahrenheit for up to two weeks. This way, the potatoes could be stored for longer. Store the brushed of potato in a cold and dark place with proper ventilation and not on a refrigerator. When the potatoes are properly stored, they could live a more extended period. Only wash them when you are about to use it.
Enjoy your healthy and yummy potatoes at the end of the season. You may clean your plants and use them again. Harvesting your plants is satisfying and a very cool way to ease your stress and start a new hobby! It is fun and easy.
