Potatoes are a fun crop that is easy to grow, tastes better from the garden, and lets you enjoy varieties not found in grocery stores.

Make sure to start with certified seed potatoes for good yields and quality (grocery store potatoes are meant for eating, not growing, and have usually been treated so they won’t sprout)

Great Potato Varieties

Huckleberry Gold– A staff favorite! Low Glycemic Potato!! Buttery taste similar to Yukon Gold (and in our opinion even better!). Purple skin with rich golden interior. Great roasted, baked, boiled or mashed.

Bintje– Heirloom potato from the Netherlands! Exceptional flavor! Yellow skin and creamy texture. Stores well.

Red Lasoda– Rosy skin with white interior. Delicious roasted or boiled. Good yields, stores well.

Russet Burbank– Hugely Popular! Does especially well in the Pacific Northwest. Great baking potato or use for fries!

Purple Viking– Purple/Pink skin with creamy interior. Rich, buttery flavor. Great All Purpose Potato! Excellent mashed or baked.

Amarosa Fingerling– Ruby skin and interior. Great roasted, boiled or sauteed! Good yields.

How to Grow Potatoes:

Prepare– Choose a full sun location (at least 6 hours of direct sun) to either plant your potatoes in the ground or grow in a container. A week or two before planting place your potatoes in a sunny spot to encourage sprouting and then a few days before planting cut your potatoes into egg sized pieces (roughly 2-3 inches) with 4-5 eyes per piece. If planting in the ground mix 1″ of compost and a well balanced fertilizer into the soil (just the fertilizer if planting in a container)

Plant– Dig a bowl or trench 3-5″ deep and place the potatoes (cut side down) 12-15″ apart then cover with an inch of soil. If using a container fill the bottom with a few inches of soil, then place the potatoes and cover them with an inch of soil.

Care– When stems are 6-8″ high fertilize again and being mounding the soil to create a hill (cover stems until only 4-5″ exposed and repeat as needed (probably 2-3 times) as the plant grows. You can stop hilling when the potato stems flower. Potatoes like even watering. Once the plant emerges start watering about 2″/week (more in hot dry weather, and give extra water in the summer and right before/during flowering). Water early/mid day so that leaves aren’t wet by nightfall. After flowering (once the plants turn yellow and start dying back) stop watering and prepare for harvest.

Harvest– Potatoes for immediate consumption can be harvested as soon as they are big enough (dig up a few to test). Potatoes for storage should be dug up a few weeks after flowering. You want to harvest potatoes before fall rain sets in. Dig out potatoes carefully to avoid slicing/bruising then let potatoes rest in the shade for several days to cure before storage. Store in a cool dark place in net bags for good air circulation.