Tips for Growing Potatoes

Companion Plants to Potatoes: Beans, Broad Beans, Bush Beans, Beets, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Corn, Marigold, Marjoram, Nasturtiums, Peas

Antagonistic Plants to Potatoes: Celery, Cucumber

Preventing Potato Scab - Once you grow a container full of potatoes, you shouldn't plant potatoes in that container again for three years, to allow the soil to replenish itself and prevent Potato Scab. Also, avoid rotating your potatoes into other containers which have had different root crops grown in them the year before, like turnips, beets and carrots, because these crops are also prone to develop scab. Dry soil also causes scab, so make sure your potatoes have enough water at the time of tuber set, which is a month or two after planting.
.

***

.
Potatoes & Sweet Potatoes- one cup of boiled, peeled potatoes yields 134 calories. One medium baked potato in the skin has 161 calories.  One cup of baked sweet potato (in the skin) has 180 calories. -- The Prepper Project: "What To Grow To Avoid Starvation and Malnutrition"
.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.
The Potato Journal
.
April 15, 2014
.
Well, now that there's soil out on the balcony, it doesn't seem like there's much reason to not have plants growing out there as well.
.

.
A friend stopped by and gave me four seed potatoes he had left over, which was a mighty nice thing for him to do. Later, I went to Newfie Speed & Sport (aka Canadian Tire) and bought a few more plants - some Great Lakes Lettuce, Mesclun Mixed Greens, two tomato plants (one cherry), and a few Red Russian Kale plants.
. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.
May 22, 2014
.

.
Although it doesn't show very well in the picture, the potatoes (above right) have been hilled up. Man, do these bloody things grow fast. And to think, only a few weeks ago they were so late in coming up that I though they might not come up at all! At first I piled the soil up from around the plants, but that wasn't enough dirt so I had to buy another bag of potting soil mix and pour it into the container until it was around 5 or 6 inches from the top of the plant, but now, again, they are at least 12 inches high again! They literally are growing about an inch a day. I know they should be hilled much higher, but I fear I will only be able to add another 3 or 4 inches of soil to the hills before it will overflow out of the container. That will just have to be that then. I hope they still work out okay..
.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.
June 19, 2014
.

Left: Wave Petunias -- Right: Potatoes

.
In the container that used to have the kale (above right) I planted two new rows of lettuce. I certainly liked the Great Lakes Lettuce better than the Mesclun Mix, so this time I'm going to try a different variety - Grand Rapids Lettuce - which looks similar to the Great Lakes variety. Lettuce grows best in the spring and fall, so I don't know how well this is going to work heading into the heat of July and August, but time will tell. I will be planting more lettuce later in the year when the other crops are harvested and the weather cools again, and this way I can kind of get a feel for what it's like to grow lettuce from seed - as well as seeing the difference between growing them in a small container versus a large one. Since my potatoes have grown like bloody palm trees (above right), once the lettuce sprouts out of the soil I'll move the lettuce behind the shade of the potato plants to help keep them cool..
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.
August 12, 2014
.
Well, I've read that the time to harvest the potatoes is when the leaves wilt and turn brown. God help me, but there is nothing left for me to do but let them wilt and turn brown. No amount of water seems to make a difference, so, up they come! It's not too bountiful of a harvest - 2lbs, 9oz. At a value of $1.12/lb, that's not too great! Meh, at least I got the seed potatoes for free. 
.

.