Planting Potatoes - 2023

It finally stopped raining.  After checking the forecast to ensure we have a few good days without rain, I determined that I'd get the potatoes planted.  The seed potatoes we bought at our Feed Store and cut into chunks were put on the top shelf in our closet.  It stays warm up there and seemed like a good spot to put them and allow them to scab over and their eyes to start growing.

I pulled them down from the shelf and took a look.  I had almost forgotten about them.  I learned the top shelf idea from a gentleman at church.  He keeps his in his attic.  Hot air rises and it stays warm up there.  My attic is kind of cool, so we opted for the closet.  It worked.  They eyes are growing nicely!

Potatoes with Eyes

This right here is a future potato plant.  Once placed in the ground, it will burst forth and grow leaves and a nice root system that will produce potatoes.  You never know what your crop looks like until you dig them up.  Sometimes the above ground growth looks fantastic.  And then you dig them up and have a dismal harvest.  Other times, everything seems to work and the potato crop yields bountifully.

I only have eyes, for you...

The reason you cut the potatoes and allow them to scab over for a week or so prior to planting is that if you put them in the ground "wet," they will rot in the ground.  Here you can see that the cut seed potatoes have scabbed over nicely.

Scabbed over

We have a little issue to deal with, however.  It's time for potato planting and there are still immature cabbages in the potato patch.  These cabbage were hit hard during the dip into the high teens and it set them back.

Immature Cabbage

They are pretty and healthy, but they won't mature in time and I need the space.  We don't let them waste, though.  even though they won't make a head, I'll harvest them and cut them up and make coleslaw with the leaves.  We don't let anything waste.  The bottom leaves get thrown over the fence to the cows, goats, and chickens.

Just not gonna make it

Planting potatoes is a back-breaking endeavor.  There's definitely a better way, but here's my process.  I use a shovel to dig a five inch deep hole.

I sprinkle a quarter cup of composted chicken manure to the bottom of the hole.  This will give them some 'get up and go' once their roots hit it.

I loaded a wagon full of composted wood chips.  It has decomposed into some nice, rich soil just teeming with earthworms.  It makes a great growing medium.

On the bottom of the hole, I sprinkled the homemade topsoil.  Then I put the seed potato on top of the topsoil with the eye facing upward.  You can see an earthworm next to it.  That's an encouraging sign.

Then I top off the hole with more of the composted wood chips that has mostly turned to soil.  Now we just wait until they sprout.  Once I gave green leaves above the soil, I mulch the area with four inches of non-composted wood chips.  Those chips will become soil by the end of the growing season.

The photo I posted below shows when I have only 9 potatoes planted.  When I finished, I had 122 potatoes in the ground.  I plant them 4 inches deep and 12 inches apart.

It was a great day for planting potatoes!  We'll see how the harvest goes.  I'll test dig some in about 90 days to see if they are ready.  Until then, we wait...