Jocelyne Sewell
A Gardener鈥檚 Diary
So far the weather has been good and giving us a chance to clean the gardens for winter.
I managed to get all the plants I wanted to save into the house.
Because my column is on a monthly-ish schedule, the timing of my articles is not always right. So this is for next spring: .
Potatoes grow best in relatively cool soil, ideally between 8鈥�23C.
You can plant potatoes just around and after the last frost date (my planting of June 19 didn鈥檛 do very well).
How to grow potatoes:
1. Buy seed potatoes. Avoid grocery-store produce for your seed potatoes, if possible; they鈥檙e often treated with inhibitors to prevent sprouting.
The time it takes for the plants to reach maturity depends on the variety of potato you鈥檇 like to plant. Early-season varieties (like Yukon gold) take 75 to 90 days to produce, mid-season varieties (like russet) take 90 to 135 days, and late-season varieties (like French fingerling) take anywhere from 135 to 160 days.
2. Two or three weeks before you want to plant, place your seed potatoes in a cool, sunny spot to encourage hardy sprouting.
3. A day or two before planting, cut each seed potato into a few pieces. Each piece should have at least two sprouts. Do not plant these right away 鈥� the pieces need a few days to 鈥渉eal,鈥� otherwise they鈥檒l rot in the ground.
4. Choose a sunny spot (at least six hours of full sun per day) in a raised bed with well-drained, slightly acidic soil (with a pH of 4.8鈥�5.2), preferably filled with organic matter. Dig shallow trenches (10 to 15 centimetres deep) that are long enough to plant each potato piece about 20 to 38 cm apart (this depends on the space you have).
5. Plant seed potatoes in the trench with the sprouts facing up (cut side down). Cover loosely with soil; potatoes grow best in loose soil, so don鈥檛 pack it down over them.
6. Potato plants should get 2.5 to 5 cm of water per week. Water the bed evenly to avoid the potatoes cracking or becoming knobby.
7. As your potato plants grow, leafy plants will sprout from the soil, while the tubers grow on separate stems under the ground. The tubers need to stay buried under the soil during their growth; if they鈥檙e exposed to too much sun, they鈥檒l turn green and hard and be inedible. To ensure the tubers stay buried, follow a process called 鈥渉illing鈥� 鈥� simply pile up soil or mulch around the base of each plant, covering all but the top few rows of leaves. You should hill your potatoes three or four times during the season.
8. Potatoes are common targets for Colorado potato beetles, flea beetles, leafhoppers, and aphids 鈥� handpick these pests off of your plants or spray them off with a blast of water.
To avoid potato diseases like scab or blight, nourish your plants with compost tea, make sure your soil pH is not above 5.2, and maintain healthy crop-rotation practices.
How to harvest potatoes:
When you see the leafy plants beginning to die back, don鈥檛 be alarmed 鈥� that means it鈥檚 close to harvest time. Mature potatoes are ready two to three weeks after the plants start dying back (any tubers harvested before that are called new potatoes, and are more delicate and should be eaten right away). Once the top of the foliage has died completely, you can begin harvesting potatoes.
Contact Jocelyne Sewell at 250-558-4556, or email jocelynesewell@gmail.com.
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