potatoes

Potatoes: How to Grow and When to Plant in Your Backyard or Patio Garden!

Potatoes are one of the most popular things grown in the garden. We like to grow them in SmartPots containers so they're easier to harvest!
Potatoes are one of the most popular things grown in the garden. We like to grow them in SmartPots containers so they’re easier to harvest!

How to Grow:

Potatoes are planted 2-4 weeks before your last spring frost and 10 weeks before your first fall frost. You can see specific dates for your location using our FREE iOS, Android, and Universal Web App. Seed potatoes are planted 4-6 inches deep, 4 per square foot, in the full sun. Take care to notice what plants are around the area as well, see the companion plant section below. Potatoes will begin to sprout within 14-28 days with constant moisture.

Companion Plants:

Companion planting is a vital part of organic gardening. Companion plants assist in the growth of others by attracting beneficial insects, repelling pests, or providing nutrients, shade, or support. There are also plants that do not like being next to each other. Some plants get too tall and can provide too much shade for your plant. Sometimes certain plants attract the same pests, so it is important to try and separate these.
         Good Bad
Arugula Kale Acorn Squash
Basil Kohlrabi Butternut Squash
Beans (bush & pole) Lettuce Celery
Beets Marigolds Cantaloupe
Broccoli Marjoram Cucumbers
Cabbage Nasturtiums Pumpkin
Carrots Onions Spaghetti Squash
Cauliflower Oregano Summer Squash (Zucchini)
Chamomile Peas Sunflowers
Cilantro/Coriander Radish Tomatoes (bush & vine)
Corn Spinach Turnips
Eggplant Tarragon Watermelon
Garlic
See companion plants for 100+ foods in our FREE iOS, Android, and Universal Web app!

Pests:

Pests can be one of the most difficult challenges you face in the garden. We strive to grow food without the use of pesticide and luckily there are natural solutions for most of these nasty pests! The pests listed below are common ones for potatoes: Learn more about how to manage pests and attract beneficial insects in our FREE iOS, Android, and Universal Web App!

Harvesting:

Potatoes will be ready to harvest in about 90-120 days. It’s best to harvest potatoes when the soil is dry. Small early potatoes can be harvested in summer after the plants finish flowering. Potatoes can be kept in the soil until 2-3 weeks after all the foliage has died in the fall. Gently loosen the soil and dig around the plant with your hands to find the potatoes. You may need to dig deep with a shovel to get the deeper potatoes. Brush the soil away from the potato and let sit in a cool, humid location for 2 weeks to cure. We’ve found it’s easier to grow potatoes in containers and like using the Smart Pots containers for this purpose.

Cooking & Eating!

Potatoes can be used to make mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, french fries, hash browns, creamy potato soup, and a variety of other dishes.
Learn more about growing over 100 different foods, including how to manage various pests in our FREE iOS, Android, or new Universal Web App! potatoes

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9 thoughts on “Potatoes: How to Grow and When to Plant in Your Backyard or Patio Garden!

  1. This is one we need to work on. We have not grown many potatoes, and have done without them on various years. They are not as easy as so many other vegetables. However, because they are one of the few types of vegetables that we continually purchase in the market, we really should work on growing them, even if we do not have the best situation for them.

  2. The leaves of my red potato plants started with small brown spots and the earwigs are out of control. We just pulled the potatoes from one of the 3 pots and found that there was small ones in it. Can we eat those if the plant hasn’t flowered yet? Are the other potato plants too sick to salvage?

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