- 2 days ago
Learn the step-by-step process for planting potatoes in a raised garden bed. This guide shows you exactly how to prep soil and plant seed potatoes.
If you are looking to start growing potatoes at home, this tutorial breaks down the essential techniques for success. We focus on the soil preparation needed for a healthy crop and the proper hand-planting method to ensure your potatoes get the best start possible. Whether you have a small space or a dedicated patch, these steps will help you get your garden started.
By following this method for planting potatoes, you will establish a solid foundation for your harvest. We walk through the entire process, from selecting the right spot in your raised garden bed to the final watering step. Understanding how to plant potatoes correctly is the most important part of home vegetable gardening, and this simple approach removes the guesswork.
Subscribe for weekly vegetable gardening tips, and let me know in the comments if you are planning to grow your own potatoes this season.
If you are looking to start growing potatoes at home, this tutorial breaks down the essential techniques for success. We focus on the soil preparation needed for a healthy crop and the proper hand-planting method to ensure your potatoes get the best start possible. Whether you have a small space or a dedicated patch, these steps will help you get your garden started.
By following this method for planting potatoes, you will establish a solid foundation for your harvest. We walk through the entire process, from selecting the right spot in your raised garden bed to the final watering step. Understanding how to plant potatoes correctly is the most important part of home vegetable gardening, and this simple approach removes the guesswork.
Subscribe for weekly vegetable gardening tips, and let me know in the comments if you are planning to grow your own potatoes this season.
Category
š ļø
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Alright guys, welcome back to Grow the Earth, and today we're going to talk about these guys right here.
00:05This is probably one of the most consumed vegetables in the world.
00:11Every group of people, all the different nations around the world, all know what a potato is,
00:17and it's all, and every one of them has something potato in their diet.
00:24It's a very important agricultural product for us as gardeners, and also for everyone around the world,
00:31so this should hit home for a lot of people if you want to grow your own potatoes.
00:36The first thing we've got to talk about when we talk about planted potatoes is,
00:41do I need to buy seed potatoes from a supplier? Can I just use potatoes from the store?
00:47I can tell you, in all the time that I've grown potatoes, I've never bought seed potatoes.
00:52potatoes, they've always been leftovers that didn't get used fast enough and started to chit out already.
01:01If you need potatoes, you don't have to buy seed potatoes because usually those are only offered at a certain
01:07time of year,
01:07which is typically, they offer them at the optimum time for the people up north,
01:13because the ground is actually workable at that point,
01:16and down here in the south, you can pretty much grow these things year-round.
01:23So, let's get to what chitting is.
01:26Chitting is whenever your eyes of your potato actually start to sprout and form plants.
01:34So, whenever you're eating a potato, you're actually eating the seed of a potato plant.
01:41Just like most other plants, the seed is what grows a new plant, so, ergo, that is a seed.
01:48And whenever you have chitting, which is the eyes that are starting to grow a new plant,
01:55that's the time to put them in the ground.
01:56You can plant them.
01:58If they haven't started doing this, perfectly fine.
02:01They will grow.
02:03The only difference is you've got to watch how much you water them,
02:07because they will start to rot and not form a plant.
02:11But once they're at this stage to where you've actually already got a plant forming,
02:15it's not as crucial.
02:17They will absorb the water, and it won't rot so much,
02:21because you've already got a plant that's taking off.
02:23You can do the same thing with sweet potato.
02:25This was actually a sweet potato that we got from someone and forgot that we even had it,
02:30and it started growing plants.
02:33Now, with sweet potatoes, you can actually let this grow,
02:38snap this plant off, plant it,
02:40and continue to sprout more off of your same sweet potato.
02:46We are just going to plant the part of the sweet potato that has growth on it and let it
02:54grow.
02:54So, you'll notice that I'm not dealing with a whole potato here.
02:57I'm not dealing with a whole sweet potato.
02:59Some of these are not whole potatoes.
03:01That is because you can take these plant, these seeds,
03:05and where there is an eye,
03:08which you can see that would be an eye,
03:11that would be an eye,
03:12that would be an eye,
03:14that would be an eye.
03:16Wherever there is an eye,
03:17and this is the same if it's a sweet potato or a regular potato,
03:21that is where a plant could possibly sprout from.
03:25So, if you have a plant that has already sprouted two,
03:29like this sweet potato has,
03:31you can actually go in and divide this plant,
03:35this seed, in half,
03:37and all you have to do is let it dry out for a day or two before you plant it.
03:42We want to have a dry scab or scar
03:47over wherever you cut it from
03:49before you plant it in the ground
03:51because where they're scabbed over like this,
03:54then it won't absorb a whole lot of water through here and rot it out.
03:58Potatoes are actually relatively easy to plant.
04:02Basically, you need good, decently loose soil.
04:05The looser the soil, the better
04:07because as the plant grows out the top,
04:12it is growing roots and tubers below
04:14because that seed is actually a tuber.
04:16It's a section of the root of that plant
04:19that actually swells up and starts growing.
04:25So, if that tuber is going to grow,
04:27just like with a carrot or any other root vegetable,
04:30that soil is going to have to move out of the way
04:32or it's going to get constricted
04:34and it'll either,
04:36that tuber will grow any way it can
04:39in order to grow.
04:41So, if there is hard compacted soil on one side,
04:45it will grow to the other side.
04:46If there is hard and compacted soil all the way around it,
04:48it will grow down.
04:50Whichever way it can grow
04:52to make its fruit,
04:54that's the way it will.
04:55You don't want them coming out of the ground
04:57because they will start to get green.
05:00Now, the green part of a potato is
05:03it won't kill you,
05:04but it can make you sick
05:05if you've got touchy stomachs
05:07and so forth like that.
05:07So, we want to try and keep anything we can
05:10below the ground as far as potatoes go.
05:13All right, guys.
05:14So, I've already taken the liberty
05:15of kind of laying out
05:16where I want my potatoes to go.
05:19So, you want to give them some room
05:21around each other
05:22because they are going to produce
05:24a bunch of potatoes
05:25that are going to be underground
05:26and you don't necessarily want them
05:27running into each other.
05:28So, you want to give them some space.
05:30But, for regular potatoes
05:33and for sweet potatoes,
05:34you're going to want to plant them down
05:36about four inches.
05:38So, what we're simply going to do
05:40is we're going to dig down four inches,
05:42we're going to put our potatoes in,
05:44and we're going to put
05:45some fertilizer in with it.
05:47So, again, we're going to come in,
05:49we're going to dig down about four inches.
05:55Now, if you watch another channel
05:58called Epic Gardening,
06:00they did a very good video
06:03to where they did
06:06some scientific testing
06:07about planting these deep
06:09and all of that,
06:10and they found that actually
06:11four inches,
06:13four to six inches
06:14was about the best spot
06:16in order to put
06:17your potatoes down
06:18for productivity
06:20and all that nice stuff.
06:21So,
06:23we're going to go
06:24about four inches down.
06:25Now, we don't have to get accurate
06:26and get a,
06:27you know,
06:28get any kind of
06:28tape measure out
06:29or anything like that.
06:31The only thing
06:32that we've got to do
06:33is we've got to make sure
06:34that our eye
06:35or our plant
06:36is facing up.
06:39so that plant
06:40is facing up
06:42and what I'm going to do
06:43is I'm going to take
06:43some of our
06:45fertilizer here.
06:47We're going to put
06:48a little bit on each side
06:50and then we're going
06:51to cover it up.
06:54And that is
06:55pretty much it.
06:58Again,
06:59all we've got to do
07:00is make sure,
07:00now, see,
07:01like this potato here
07:02hasn't sprouted.
07:04What we have is
07:05we have our eyes,
07:06right?
07:07So we need to make sure
07:08that our eyes
07:09are facing
07:10towards the surface.
07:12That way,
07:13that plant,
07:13when it starts to grow,
07:14can grow up
07:15and not out this way
07:17or possibly down
07:18or another direction
07:20other than what we want.
07:22All right, guys,
07:23one of the tips
07:24that I'm going to give you, too,
07:25is whenever you're planting these,
07:27you can simply use
07:29a body measure,
07:31which most people
07:33index to about
07:35the middle of your hand
07:35is about four
07:36to six inches
07:38depending on the size
07:38of your hand.
07:39So I'm going to finish
07:40planting the rest of these out
07:41and then I'm going to bring you back
07:42for your aftercare tips
07:44after you plant them.
07:45All right,
07:46so we've got all
07:47of our potatoes
07:47and our sweet potatoes
07:48planted here
07:50and you saw
07:51in the beginning
07:51there wasn't that many
07:52because we want to give them
07:53plenty of room
07:54to spread out and grow.
07:55When we planted
07:57those seeds
07:58in the ground,
08:00we gave them
08:00a little fertilizer
08:01directly around
08:02the potato itself
08:05and that is
08:06perfectly fine.
08:08I've done it
08:08every year
08:09I've ever planted potatoes,
08:10has never
08:10not made them sprout
08:12and has actually gotten,
08:14I've gotten pretty good
08:14harvest out of them.
08:16And what I usually do also
08:17is take
08:19some more fertilizer
08:21and we're going
08:22to put it
08:23on top
08:24of the soil
08:27as kind of
08:28like a side dressing.
08:31Now we don't need
08:32to go crazy here.
08:34You know,
08:35just a light dusting.
08:40And then we're going
08:41to water all of this
08:42in really good.
08:45Not only because
08:46we want to
08:47give our soil
08:49some water
08:51but also
08:52because we want
08:53this fertilizer
08:53that we just put
08:55on the top
08:56of the ground
08:57to kind of
08:58water in
08:59that way
09:00it is not
09:03able to blow away,
09:05able to move
09:06in certain areas
09:07and things like that.
09:09We want it to stay
09:10kind of where we put it
09:11and we need
09:13some water
09:13to do that.
09:16Now this is
09:19you're not going
09:19to see your plants
09:20come up immediately.
09:22That's not how
09:22potatoes work.
09:24Once they get
09:25in the soil
09:26they're going to
09:28you know
09:28gain a little traction
09:30by sending out
09:31some roots
09:32and then they're
09:32going to send
09:33the plant
09:33upwards
09:35in order to
09:36gain sunlight
09:38so it can
09:39make potatoes
09:42below the ground.
09:45So whenever
09:48you get your
09:49sprouts up
09:51give them
09:52regular water.
09:54They don't need
09:55a ton of water
09:56at this stage
09:57but once they
09:58break ground
09:58you're going to
09:58need to start
09:59watering them
10:00pretty regularly
10:01because we want
10:02that water
10:03to be there
10:06for that plant.
10:09After everything
10:11grows up
10:11you'll actually
10:12start to see
10:13usually in about
10:15three months
10:15you'll start
10:17to see the tops
10:18start to yellow
10:19and kind of die.
10:22Your plants
10:23are not going
10:24bad.
10:24That is a natural
10:25cycle of potatoes.
10:28As these tops
10:29die back
10:31it is drawing
10:32that energy
10:32back in order
10:33to make the
10:34potato beneath
10:34the ground
10:36and it is
10:39basically growing
10:40your potatoes
10:41at that point.
10:43So if you
10:43pull up your
10:44plants before
10:44that and you
10:45don't find
10:45any potatoes
10:47don't be surprised
10:48because your
10:50tubers, your
10:50potatoes are
10:51actually made
10:52toward the end
10:52of that plant's
10:53life cycle
10:54and not at
10:55the beginning.
10:56The first thing
10:57it's going to do
10:58is it's going to
10:58consume the potato
10:59you put below
11:00the ground
11:00send out roots
11:02send up a plant
11:04once it starts
11:05gathering sunlight
11:06that's when it
11:07begins to
11:07make its root
11:09system and then
11:10it starts making
11:11the tubers below
11:11ground on the
11:13roots and as
11:16those get to a
11:16certain point
11:17the plant up top
11:18will start
11:19dying and drawing
11:20back into your
11:21potatoes and
11:23that's where it
11:23makes its last
11:24big push to make
11:25the bigger potatoes.
11:27So be patient
11:28wait for the
11:30tops to die
11:31and then dig
11:33your potatoes
11:33up.
11:34If there's a
11:35little bit of
11:36green on them
11:36it's not a big
11:37deal but you
11:39are going to
11:39have smaller
11:40harvests if they
11:41haven't died back
11:42mostly completely.
11:44The only
11:45requirement that
11:47potatoes need is
11:49the soil has to
11:50be above 50
11:51degrees.
11:53so if you're
11:54up north
11:55once your soil
11:56temperature gets
11:57above 50
11:57degrees you can
11:58plant potatoes.
12:01If you're in
12:02the south as
12:03long as your
12:05temperature is
12:05above 50 degrees
12:06and you've got
12:06more than three
12:08months before our
12:10winter hits you
12:12can plant potatoes.
12:13You can literally
12:14plant these all
12:15summer and you
12:15can get multiple
12:16harvests especially
12:17down here in south
12:18Texas to where it's
12:20above 50 degrees
12:21for the majority
12:22of the year.
12:23You can get two
12:24or three harvests
12:24of potatoes out of
12:25the ground every
12:27year and they
12:29keep relatively well
12:30as long as they're
12:31away from sunlight
12:32and moisture.
12:34So guys again I
12:35thank you for
12:35joining me today.
12:36Hopefully this is
12:37something that you
12:38want to do in your
12:39own garden because
12:40it doesn't take a
12:41whole lot to gain
12:44quite a few
12:44potatoes that will
12:47be worthwhile
12:47enough for you to
12:48plant potatoes for.
12:50I want you to
12:52like, subscribe,
12:53share, comment
12:54and all that nice
12:56stuff to keep the
12:56algorithm happy
12:57and as always I
12:58ask you to pray
12:59over your family,
13:00pray over your
13:00garden and have a
13:02great day.
Comments