Speaking of potatoes, does anybody have advice for a newbie? Once I cut a potato apart, do I need to let it scab over before planting? I’m assuming yes.
We had to cut down several trees and branches of trees recently, and I can see that now I have a few sunny spots where I didn’t have any before. So I’m hoping to plant a few vegetables that I like. I thought potatoes might be a fun choice to start with. Any FReeper help is greatly appreciated.
I didn’t. I Did make certain that the eyes pointed upward.
My plants are currently about 12” tall. (I started them pretty early and had to cover them on a few cold nights.
I know that some people do let them dry a bit and some people would dust them with something like soil sulfer to prevent from rotting once they pot.
(I am growing mine in fabric bags this year.)
I rub the taters with wood ash to help scab over and put the eyes up. I cover with a foot of leaves, then add compost. Mine are looking good so far (planted the second week of Feb).
Our soil is very heavy, lots of clay and rocks , so I figured actually putting them in the ground wouldn’t work, but decided to try containers and laying them on the ground. Mr. mm cut the bottoms of the buckets off and I placed them around the garden and filled them with wood chips and loose soil the planted the potatoes in them. Some buckets I put two potatoes in and some I put one, just to see how the crops compare.
I also have laid some on the ground and just covered them with wood chips and mulch.
I had pretty good success with them last year in spite of how neglected they ended up being, and the tomato hornworms that actually do LOVE potatoes. I did notice, however, that the ones in the buckets didn’t have much of a hornworm problem.
It will be interesting this year to see how the garden does now that we’ve finished moving and I am here to take better care of it.
Yes, let the cut side dry before planting and plant eyes up.