Potatoes, Grow Them, Cook Them, Enjoy

The Inca's first grew potatoes in a garden around 200 BC and today as you are reading this there are now over 1000 types of potatoes. Potatoes grow best from seed potatoes and potatoes love full sun so you will need to plant your potatoes so they will be in full sun most of the day. The soil they are planted in needs to be light, loose, and well drained. You don't want the soil where you plant your potatoes to be wet or soggy. Seed potatoes need to be well sprouted before you plant them. If you plant them outdoors before the danger of frost has passed cover the plants with straw to protect the tender vegetation from frost.

As long as you mulch your potatoes real heavy you can grow potatoes almost year round in the American south.

Use Those Old Tires To Grow Potatoes

You can recycle old tires and use them to grow potatoes. Some people grow them in old bushel baskets or big burlap bags. There are all kinds of ways you can grow potatoes and those grown at home will always taste better than those bought in the store.

You can let your potatoes grow to their full maturity or you can dig them when they are very young which is known as new potatoes. You can recycle old tires and grow potatoes at the same time. Plant your potatoes in a tire and have several more tires set aside. When the potatoes in the first tire get to growing good place another tire on top and fill it with soil. As the potatoes start to grow well in another tire add another tire on top and fill with dirt. When late summer comes and the potato tops start to die off just remove a tire at a time and harvest your potatoes.

I've had great success with growing potatoes in tires. And so can you. It's a great way to reuse tires. I quite often have them stacked up 5 tires high and harvest huge amounts of potatoes from my tires. You can easily grow sweet potatoes in tires.

You will want to water your potatoes well over the summer but you don't want to over water. Be sure to water your potatoes early in the day so the plants have time to dry out before the evenings. Once you harvest your potatoes put them in a cool dry place and start to cook and enjoy them as soon as you desire.

Harvesting New Potatoes Or Baby Potatoes

You can carefully dig and harvest some of your potatoes when they are very young about the size of golf balls. You will want to carefully dig these potatoes out and replace the soil so the other potatoes can keep growing. Wash your new potatoes very well and then cook them by themselves or cook them in a pot of green beans. I usually leave the skins on new potatoes because the skins add to the flavor of the potatoes.

You Can Easily Grow Potatoes In A Box You Build

If you build a box like in the above photo you can easily grow over 100 pounds of potatoes in very little space and you'll soon have over 100 pounds of potatoes to enjoy. You can keep your box year after year and enjoy a great potato harvest year after year. Potatoes will grow very well in your potato high rise and if you want to harvest a few potatoes early just remove a board from near the bottom and enjoy your potatoes.

Growing Potatoes In The Garden

Potatoes are one of the most grown vegetables in the home garden especially in the American south. Potatoes are also easy to grow. In order for your potatoes to grow properly the soil needs to be loose and the soil needs to be between ph 5.5 and 6.0. You would be well advised to purchase a soil testing kit to use in your garden.

How To Plant Your Potatoes In The Garden

Once you test your soil you can adjust it by adding nutrients and fertilizers to the soil. In my garden I dig out the rows where I'm going to plant my potatoes to a depth of 12 inches and I mix the dirt I take out with either very well rotted compost or well rotted manure. I mix it at a ratio of 60/40 but keep in mind the manure or compost needs to be broken down very well and rotted or you will burn up your potatoes or other plants you plant there. For each twenty foot row of potatoes I spread one pound of 5-10-5 fertilizer in the bottom of the ditch before I put the soil back in. You'll find that the soil will be mounded up when you fill the ditch back up. This is what you want.

You can buy seed potatoes at the local garden store or you can plant potatoes that have sprouted in your potato box. Just cut the potatoes up so each piece has a sprout on it and you should have a good crop of potatoes come up. I almost always use seed potatoes. They just come up better.

If you can't find seed potatoes in your local area check for seed supply stores on the internet. You'll be able to order seed potatoes and have them delivered to your home.

How Deep To Plant Your Potatoes

You should plant your potatoes four inches deep with eight to twelve inches between the potatoes. If your planting multiple rows of potatoes you should have three foot between rows.

Sweet Potatoes

Usually you'll find you can buy sweet potato slips ( plants ) in a little bundle and you plant these to have sweet potatoes. You can plant sweet potatoes the same way you would other potatoes except here you'll be planting slips which are plants. The roots go in the ground and the leaves stay above ground.

If you prepare the soil as you would for other potatoes you'll end up with a great crop of sweet potatoes. Remember before you plant your sweet potatoes that the soil needs to be mounded up and it needs to be very loose. If this is the second year of planting potatoes you'll need to till in a pound of 5-10-5 fertilizer for each twenty foot of row and you'll want to add another pound of fertilizer per twenty foot of row when the potato plants are blooming. You should do this for your regular potatoes or sweet potatoes. I have a lot of luck growing sweet potatoes in boxes like the one in the photo above.

Keep in mind that sweet potatoes should never be planted until all danger of frost has passed as they are a warm weather crop. All of your potatoes should be planted in full sun.

Potatoes don't need water as much as other vegetable crops do but you don't want your potatoes soil to dry out completely. For the best growth and potato development they need at least one inch of water a week. If you need to you can provide this with sprinklers. Don't water your potatoes when the sun is out. I water mine in the evening after the sun has set. Keep a eye on the soil and don't let it dry out completely but you also don't want standing water or too wet of conditions. You want soil that feels moit to the touch.

I really love this dish and its also nutritious and healthy for you. If they are available use the small red potatoes for this dish and start by washing them very well and cut each small potato into four quarters. You can use other small potatoes for this dish but I like the small red potatoes in this dish. You will want to have a two quart greased baking dish to cook the potato vegetable medley in.

For Your Recipe You Will Need.

1. Six Small red Potatoes Cut Into Quarters. , Be sure to wash your potatoes very well.

2. One Small Package Peeled Baby Carrots.

3. One Medium Sweet Onion Diced Very Fine.

4. One Half Cup Chicken Broth.

5. Two Zucchini Squash Diced Into Small Pieces.

6. One Teaspoon Ground Sea Salt.

7. One Teaspoon Black Pepper.

8. One Tablespoon Fresh Chopped Parsley.

9. One Tablespoon Sour Cream.

Stir all your ingredients together well in a mixing bowl and pour out into a well greased baking dish. Cook for about 30 minutes in a preheated 400 degree oven and you will have a delicious potato dish everyone is going to love.

Potato Soup is one of my all time favorites and this potato soup is oh so delicious. I love to make it from my own home grown potatoes but you can use store bought potatoes to make this delicious potato soup also. In order to make this delicious potato soup you will need.

1. Two Pounds Of Potatoes Peeled And Cut Into Small Cubes.

2. One Large Sweet Onion Diced Fine.

3. One Tablespoon Fresh Grated Garlic.

4. One Third Cup Fresh Diced Celery.

5. Two Tablespoons Dried Parsley.

6. One Tablespoon Dried Tarragon.

7. One Teaspoon Course Ground Black Pepper.

8. One Heaping Teaspoon Sea Salt.

9. Two Cups Chicken Stock.

10. One Cup Half And Half Cream.

11. One Half Cup Whole Milk.

12. One Half Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese.

Place all your ingredients into a large pot and bring almost to a boil but not quite. Reduce the heat to simmer and continue to cook for one hour. Then you will want to allow your soup to cool almost to room temperature and then process all your soup through your food processor. Puree smooth in the food processor and place back in a large stock pot and bring almost to a boil but not quite. Your delicious potato soup is now ready to serve and enjoy.

I promise you that this soup is some of the best potato soup that you'll ever eat in your life.

I really know a lot about growing potatoes so if you have any questions just ask and I will be glad to help you. If you need a potato recipe you don't have let me know and I will try to find it for you. Just post your comments now and thanks for reading my hub page.