Planting some potatoes

Well, its that time of year again - especially if you live in the southern states, its time to plant your potatoes.

First, I started off cutting some potatoes and letting them dry for a couple of days. The cut potatoes were kept on the dining room table, and on a piece of cardboard.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73hTe_zaJ2k"]YouTube- Cutting potatoes getting ready to plant[/ame]


Then my kids and I worked up the ground with a tiller, spread some fertilizer, tilled the fertilzier in, and then planted a row of potatoes. We had plans on planting 2 - 3 rows, but the rain started to fall, so we only got 1 row planted.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZxF4OAhnsU"]YouTube- Planting potatoes in a community garden[/ame]

 

It has been a while since I've planted potatoes. I've never seen it explained in such detail!

At 4:27 in the first video you mentioned that simply putting the entire potato in the ground will also work, and that is a good thing to mention because they will grow.

Why let them dry over night?

 

From what I was told, when the pieces of potato are drying, they build up a crust that will help prevent them from rotting in the ground.

 

Sounds reasonable. Cut a few up while you are planting them and see if it makes a difference?

In any event, if anyone has access to any land at all, even a 3' x 3' area, toss a potato in as described and you may be surprised how successful you are. ; )

 

My family tried planting potatoes in our tiny backyard last year, but the neighborhood squirrels and rats dug them up and ate them(along with the other veggies we planted). One small fingerling potato, a couple leaves of spinach, and a tiny carrot was all that survived. So much for urban farming...

 

Do you have any cats around your house?

Dont feed them for a couple of days, and they will take care of those squirrels and rats.

 

There are usually a few stray cats around, yes. We don't feed them (we have adopted / neutered some of them), but several neighbors leave kibble out for them. Probably a big part of the reason we have squirrels & rats in the area...

 

A hungry cat is a good cat, because it will hunt anything that it can. Whether its birds, rats, mice, squirrels,,,,,, if that cat is hungry enough, it will catch its own food.