Garden Supplies For Growing 100 Pounds of Potatoes
Potato gardening is simple. You don’t need many gardening accessories. The potatoes we eat are starchy tubers that grow underground very naturally, swelling and getting larger as the top half of the plant matures. Many claim to grow 100 pounds of potatoes in a small 4 square foot gardening area as they cover their emerging crop in layers of soil as it matures.
First off you need garden seed potatoes. These are potatoes you’ve seen in your kitchen that have sprouted shoots. Individual potatoes that are sold at grocery stores sometimes have growth inhibitors sprayed on them, but bagged potatoes that you see sprout are good seed potato candidates.
About one or two weeks before planting put your seed potatoes in a warm place at about 60 to 70 degrees in bright sunlight to activate sprouting. You can put your seed potatoes in a basket or in egg cartons.
Prepare you potatoes the day before by cutting them into golf ball size portions with each cube having at least 2 eyes. You’ll want to keep them exposed to the air overnight which hastens a callous covering the cut part. This callus prevent the seed potato from rotting in the garden.
Potatoes don’t like a particularly rich soil. If you have some organic matter and the pH is good, the potatoes should be happy. What they do rely on is a steady water supply. If the spring and summer rains don’t offer enough water, water them at least an inch a week.
One can use build a potato box or automobile tires as a garden accessory and plant place 6 seed potatoes inside filling the tire or container half way with soil. When the vines grow about 6 inches high place another tire on top or add boards to your container and cover the vines half way with soil. Keep adding soil and tires until you reach the desired height. Tires can be stacked 4 to 8 levels high.
Potato sprouts will appear in about 2 weeks. When they get about 2 or more inches high (this will take about 3 weeks) add soil to partially cover the growing vines. Do this again 2 weeks later. This process is called “hilling”. Add an inch or two of soil every week so there is enough soil above the developing potato garden to prevent them from sticking out above the soil line because the potatoes will turn green
New potatoes are small, immature potatoes. The days to harvest your crop range from 2 to 4 months. You can harvest a few of these without harming the plant, by gently feeling around in the soil near the plant, once the plant reaches about a foot in height. When the tops of the plants die off the entire crop is ready for harvest. All the sprays and fertilizers to grow healthy potatoes: Gardening Accessories