Planting Potatoes 2016

In our last post we talked about preparing our seed potatoes for planting by cutting them so that each chunk had an eye.  We allowed the cut potatoes to sit for a couple of days and 'scab' over so as not to rot once placed in the ground.  After only two days the potatoes' cut ends had healed over.  Right on schedule!

Saturday morning arrived and once the morning chores were done, it was time to get some potatoes in the ground.  I usually shoot for Valentine's Day as the planting day for potatoes.  This year I was a day early.  I decided to plant the potatoes in the area of the garden that was planted with squash and beans.  In 2012 I planted this plot with potatoes and we had our best yield ever.  Let's see if we can repeat.

The Potato Patch

I used a tape measure to mark off 24 inch rows and tied baling twine to stakes pulled tight to mark my rows.  Amy, the Jersey cow, was supervising my measurements and also requesting that I toss weeds over the fence.  I obliged.

Pulling up rows

With some good old-fashioned work with a shovel and a hoe, I pulled up five additional rows between the Onion row on the north and the brussels sprouts row on the south side.  I knew from the other day that I have 168 pieces of seed potatoes to plant, so we'll see if this is enough room or if I'll have to work up more soil.

Five rows ready to plant

Now potatoes should be planted 12 inches apart, so I made a marking stick using an old piece of bamboo cane that I've had in the corner of the garage.  I marked off 12 inch increments on the bamboo with a permanent marker.  Back when Russ was younger, I was the den leader of his group of Webelos Scouts.  In one of our activities we made walking sticks with bamboo. The bamboo came from a stand of bamboo cane at the farm in Oberlin that my grandfather had planted as a windbreak for the cattle.  As kids we'd run through the "bamboo jungle" pretending it was Viet Nam.  

In it's previous life as a walking stick, the bamboo had a leather string on the top with feathers on it. But that's not all.  As I was on my way to the scout meeting, I happened across a freshly hit raccoon on the road.  I pulled over and cut the tail off the poor old coon and tied it to the walking stick.  As you know, everyone needs a walking stick with a coon's tail on it, right?  From walking stick to measuring stick, that old piece of bamboo has more lives than a cat.

Marking, digging, planting

In addition to being planted 12 inches apart, potatoes should be planted 4 inches deep, according to LSU AgCenter.  I'm going to do something a little different.  I dug a 4 inch deep hole and then dropped a tablespoon of organic fertilizer and then covered it with a couple of inches of dirt.  Then I placed the potatoes in the hole.

Yukon Gold potatoes in the ground

Potato planting is back breaking work.  I got all the Yukon Gold planted and started on the LaSoda potatoes, finally covering with soil.  The eyes were all sprouted nicely and with a rain coming Monday and temperatures expected to be in the 70's all week, I think these spuds are going to really take off.

LaSoda Red Potato with a healthy eye

Finally I was finished!

2016 Potato Crop (or most of it anyway)

Or was I?  To my chagrin, I realized that I had 43 seed potatoes left.  So I pulled up another row and a half on the other side of the beets to finish up the job.  At long last, I was done.  As they grow I'll pull up soil around the plants and then mulch heavily with hay to crowd out any weed pressure.  In 90-120 days we'll be digging potatoes - another back breaking job, but a rewarding one.  Nothing like new potatoes cooked along with some fresh picked green beans.  This weekend I'll try to work up some ground to get some beans and corn planted.  Happy Growing, Ya'll!