GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

phorbin · 27-05-2009, 02:52 PM posted to rec.gardens.edible

In article ,
says...
Hi;
About a month ago, or so, I planted a bunch of seed potatoes that I had
gotten from Johnny's and Burpee. When I planted them, I simply took them
out of the fridge, and planted them whole. After all this time, nothing
has shown up above ground, so I dug one up, and found that it looked
exactly the way it did when I planted it. If I had peeled it, I could have
made mashed potatoes, or fried potatoes.

Is there anything I should have done to the seed potato before planting it?
They were small enough, and this is my first try, so I didn't cut any eyes.

The varieties are Red Gold, Yukon Gold, and Kennebec. My soil is clay, and
I rototilled, and added (so far) 1" of composted manure (Moo Doo), and some
Complete Organic Fertilizer (cottonseed meal, lime, kelp meal, rock
phosphate). Also, I live in Zone 5, Central-Southern Vermont. This is my
first garden.

Thanks,
Vicki

We are zone 5, Ontario. We planted on April 26th.

The potatoes were 1" above the soil on May 12 when they got a little
frosted. The plants are fine now 4-6" tall and due for another 2" of
soil. We are on sandy loam.

Yours will grow. --We get volunteers from missed potatoes all the time
but there is no predicting when.

I wonder if you're planting too deep. Basilisk has already noted the
issue of soil temperature. Clay is probably going to be cold.

We dig a trench about 8 inches deep then plant the potato 3 inches deep
in the bottom of the trench. As the plant grows upward we fill in the
trench a bit at a time until you reach ground level. (I keep saying we,
but my wife is the *real gardener* and I absorb knowledge and bask in
reflected glory.)

Trenching answers linked issues: depth, soil temperature, and tubers
will grow from the length of buried stem.

I'm not suggesting that you replant them, but adding this to your
repertoire may be useful.

Find Eliot Coleman's "Four-Season Harvest." (He's from Maine.) -Your
local library may have a copy.