Putting Fall Potatoes in the Ground

In THIS POST from November 28th of last year, I posted a review of our first ever crop of Fall Potatoes.  In it, I explain how I reviewed the LSU Vegetable Planting Guide that gave September 10th as the cutoff date for planting fall Potatoes.  Last year I figured that a few days wouldn't matter and planted them on September 23rd.  Only 13 days late and that wouldn't matter much, would it? Well, it did.  At harvest time around late November, the frost had burned/killed the potato plants and I dug the potatoes up.

I remember vowing that I would follow directions from here on out.  The date range listed is there for a reason.  LSU is an AGRICULTURAL and Mechanical University, after all, and they have studied, experimented and set the dates for our planting zone for a reason!  My goal of having year round potatoes is still attainable.  I just need to prepare and plan better.  This year I did just that, planting our fall crop of potatoes on September 2nd - well ahead of the cutoff date.

This spring, due to above average rainfall, our yield was cut short due to soggy soils that contributed to potatoes rotting in the ground and/or sickly yellow plants.  We still harvested a nice amount, but not the bumper crop that we had last year.  In planting fall potatoes, you don't purchase seed potatoes at the Feed Store like you do in the spring.  You simply save some of your potatoes from the spring harvest to use as your seed potatoes.  Tricia kindly separated out some of our smaller potatoes to serve as seed.  I think we have 24 seed potatoes ranging in size from a golf ball to the diameter of a nickel.

Seed spuds

I was thinking about just buying some potatoes from the store to plant, but read that they spray something on them to keep them from sprouting.  That's another reason you should try growing your own potatoes or at least wash them really, really good.  In the Spring, I always cut the seed potatoes into several pieces ensuring that there is an 'eye' on each piece.  These are so small, I'm going to plant them whole, and that's okay.  Some people plant whole potatoes in the spring.

Gardening can be a lot like war sometimes.  There are victories and defeats.  To the victors go the spoils, but there are casualties, too.  Our spring crop of potatoes saw its share of casualties.  I figured it would be appropriate to plant the fall crop with an old Entrenching Tool.  This is a collapsing military spade that I'm sure you've seen in Army Surplus stores.  According to This Article they were used as far back as Julius Caesar's time in the Roman Legion.  In modern times they were used for digging latrines, fortifications and (painfully) as an actual weapon.  During WWII they were sharpened and used by German and Soviet forces in hand to hand combat in close quarters in the Battle of Stalingrad.  Thankfully, we are at peace, and I can serenely dig a hole (or 24) to deposit my seed potatoes in, burying them 4 inches deep and 12 inches apart into the soft, loose soil.  It is remarkable how keeping the soil covered by hay keeps the soil pliable and virtually weed-free.

Using a military folding spade to plant fall potatoes

The potatoes were planted in the same row that our cowpeas currently occupy and are currently under the canopy of their leaves.  However, the cowpeas will be finishing up soon and like the batter on deck, the potatoes will step up to the plate to take their place.  Batter up!  I'll have to move some of the vines of the pumpkins to make room for the potatoes when that happens.  The pumpkins, as you can see below, are primarily vining toward the west, but some of the New England Sugar Pie Pumpkins have started running toward the east, over the row of potatoes.

Peas, Potatoes, and Pumpkins

If we can get this figured out, we'll have potatoes year-round, accomplishing our goal.  Potatoes take between 90 - 120 days until harvest, so we'll report back our successes (or failures) at that time.

"Lâche pas la patate!"