How To Grow, Harvest, & Store Potatoes

Potatoes are a humble and beloved food that can be turned into just about anything. Whether you are having them steamed, baked, mashed, or fried, they are a staple in any garden. Good thing for all of us, they also happen to be pretty easy to grow and store long term. 

Plant Potatoes

Plant potatoes in early spring, a few weeks before your last frost date. Seed potatoes may be purchased from your local nursery, or ordered online. Azure Standard is a great company that has all kinds of fun things for sale, including organic seed potatoes. Just click the link, and type seed potatoes into the search bar. https://www.azurestandard.com/?a_aid=coKmu4aw7b This is an affiliate ink, and I may earn from qualifying purchases.

In a pinch, you can even use regular potatoes from the grocery store, though it’s not usually recommended. If you do this, be sure to get organic potatoes, as conventional potatoes are often sprayed with chemicals that keep them from sprouting, and they won’t grow very well for you.

Grow Potatoes

You’ve probably seen potatoes start to sprout in your kitchen before. This is a sign that they are ready to be planted. The same is true for seed potatoes. In fact, each potato you have should be cut into smaller pieces to plant. Just make sure each potato chunk has an eye (the place where the little sprout starts to grow out).

Each chunk you plant will become its own plant, and each plant will make several potatoes. 

Planting Method

Dig a hole or trench that is 6-8 inches deep. Then plant the potatoes 4-5 inches deep, with the eyes pointing up. I plant mine a little closer together than is ideal, since I have a small garden, but it still does the trick! They like light rich soil with quality compost added. You may also add bonemeal, or organic vegetable fertilizer, if desired. 

Keep them moist with good sun and water throughout the growing season.

A lot of people haven’t seen the sweet and adorable flowers of a potato plant, but they are worth checking out! After they bloom, the plant will start to wither away. This is how the potato starts to tell you it’s ready.

Harvest Potatoes

As the potato plants start to turn yellow and die, stop watering them if you can. This will help the potatoes start to cure before you even harvest them.

After a week or two, it is time to gather your potatoes. If your soil is soft enough, your hands are your best tools to grab them, as it’s easy to miss with your shovel or tools, and accidentally slice them open. 

If that does happen to you, no problem,  just hold the damaged ones out to eat soon instead of storing.

You definitely don’t want to wash or rinse the potatoes. Moisture is the enemy of long term storage, and washing also destroys the natural integrity and protection of the potatoes. Hold off on washing until right before using. For now, just lightly and gently dust off excess dirt.

You will never be able to find all the little baby potatoes that are still buried in the soil, and that’s good! This ensures potatoes will always grow and come back each season, which is a great bonus! Replanting your tiny potatoes is also a great idea, since they’re not great to eat, but will make a whole new plant for you. While these little surprise bonus potatoes are awesome, you definitely want to still plant new ones each spring to keep your harvests robust each year.

Store Potatoes

If you’ve ever had a potato that’s starting to turn green, you’ve seen what happens when potatoes have been touched by the sun. To avoid this, we want to make sure to keep potatoes in the dark. They also like to stay cold.

After you’ve harvested your potatoes, the best tool to cure them with is an orchard rack. The rack has excellent air flow, and can be easily covered to keep the potatoes completely dark. The racks come in handy for all kinds of other things you harvest, as well, including fruit and onions. Here is an affiliate link if you’d like to try one out for yourself. https://amzn.to/3issSPN This is an affiliate ink, and I may earn from qualifying purchases.

While the orchard rack has been an incredible tool for us, you don’t need one. You can lay them out on any cool dark surface. Some people use counters, tables, cardboard, tarps, or even the garage floor. They dry out and cure with these methods, too, just not as quickly, easily, or compactly as with the orchard rack.

The other benefit of the rack is that once they are there curing, you can leave them there all year, and won’t need to transfer them to burlap bags for the winter. This makes it simple and easy, and also cuts down on moisture issues. 

After about a week or 10 days, go through and flip each potato so they cure evenly. This is also a really good time to check for damage, and remove any potato that is soft or rotting. One bad potato really can spoil the whole bunch.

If you’re not using an orchard rack, wait one more week, and make sure they dry and cured before storing them in a burlap bag for the winter. If you have a root cellar, awesome! Use that. If not, try the garage or a cool dark place in your house that is free of pests and critters. 

If you do have an orchard rack, you’re all done! Keep them covered with a quilt in the rack through the winter, and grab them whenever you need them.

That’s it! Once your potatoes have cured they will keep for you through the winter. Grab whatever you need to cook with from home, and ditch the store completely! Home grown potatoes are used just like store bought. Give them a rinse, and cook up whatever yummy potato dish that makes your heart happy!

Planting Next Year

One more note: Save a few potatoes from your harvest to cut up and plant next spring using the same method described at the beginning of this post. This way, you will have free potatoes from now on. Win!

What are your favorite ways to use potatoes?

If you’d like more information about curing your harvests, check out my 25 page ebook that details how to grow, harvest, and preserve onions by clicking here. https://gum.co/Xkhfw

For more easy to grow veggies, click here.

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