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Writer's pictureSarah Fremont

Potatoes!




Do you want to know the easiest crop to grow? Potatoes! At this point, we can’t even stop growing them. Let me tell you our story.


One spring, we were cleaning out our pantry and found a small bag of forgotten potatoes. They were not rotten, but each potato had plenty of “eyes” (small dimples where sprouts form) and many had formed green buds. What did we have to lose? We decided to try and grow our own potatoes. We cut the potatoes into smaller sections, ensuring each section had a bud or eye, then designated two garden beds for potatoes and planted them throughout. We would water the beds whenever we watered the other garden sections, but otherwise left them alone. Within weeks, small leaves began to appear and eventually, both beds were full of robust potato plants. After they flowered and the foliage began to die back, we harvested our potatoes. So many potatoes! We had enough to eat for the season, plus an abundance to store away. In the next growing season, potato plants began to form in the garden from potatoes we had not unearthed, and even now, a few years later, we will find potatoes growing in the garden. They can’t be stopped!


We had a pretty good inkling that potatoes were an easy crop to grow. Our neighbor in Minnesota grew his potato crop in a barrel of dirt and he had so many potatoes.  Another friend grew potatoes in a bag. So whenever anyone asks which carbohydrate crop is the most fail-proof, I always suggest potatoes. Fun fact: A potato isn't a root but an underground storage stem called a tuber.


Although we did very little to grow our crop, I will suggest a few things to ensure success:

  1. Plant your seed potatoes 12 to 14 inches apart.

  2. Water regularly.

  3. As the potato grows, cover the green shoots with soil. This is called “earthing up.”

  4. Harvest after flowering and when the plants begin to yellow and die back.

  5. Move next year’s potatoes to a different garden location to prevent pests and disease.


We have continued this process from year to year and it feels like we have created a perpetual gardening machine. Please consider growing this very successful crop in your garden. Happy planting! xo

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1 commentaire


mkfremont
mkfremont
21 juin

Potatoes are such fun. It is like digging for treasure because you never know which forkful will unearth the potato. We loved them “new” as in little ones. Because they are so easy to grow they are a substantial and available food in times of famine. ❤️

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