Grow Your Own: Potatoes

Lesson 2: Planting Potatoes

Early Learners
Most potatoes are planted in early to late spring but they mature at different rates to provide eating throughout summer and into autumn. Many beginners find that it's best to start with early and 2nd early potatoes. Spuds are pretty easy to grow but can succumb to pests and diseases, especially once they've been in the ground for a while. New potatoes are also more expensive to buy, so growing your own will save you money.

Spaced Spuds
Plant seed potatoes with the shoots uppermost. Aim for two or three shoots per tuber. Rub off extraneous shoots. Gently place them in 15cm-deep drills (trenches), covering them with soil to form a slight ridge. Many gardeners recommend adding a general purpose organic fertilizer to the bottom of the drill. Earlies should be 30cm apart, with 45cm between rows. Space maincrop and 2nd earlies 38cm apart with 75cm between rows.

Potted Potatoes
Potatoes make good container crops. Plant two or three early seed potatoes in tubs at least 30cm deep and wide, filled with multi-purpose compost or well-improved garden soil. Use chitted tubers and plant them half-way down a 30cm-deep container. Alternatively, use heavy duty plastic rubble sacks, perforated for drainage. In this method, plant maincrop potatoes in a sack half-filled with compost. "Earth up" the shoots as they grow, rolling up the sack to accommodate the extra compost. There's more about earthing up in the next lesson.