Wondering how to grow potatoes? We’re here to help! The taste and the texture of homegrown potatoes are far superior to those of store-bought spuds, especially the early varieties. Here’s how to plant, grow, and harvest potatoes in your garden.
About Potatoes
“What I say is that if a man really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.”
–A. A. Milne, English writer (1882–1956)
Potatoes like cool weather and well-drained, loose soil that is about 45 to 55°F (7 to 13°C). In warmer climates, potatoes can be grown as a winter crop.
Folklore offers many “best days” for planting potatoes:
- Old-timers in New England planted their potato crops when they saw dandelions blooming in the open fields.
- The Pennsylvania Dutch considered St. Gertrude’s Day (March 17, aka St. Patrick’s Day) to be their official potato-planting day.
- Many Christians believed that Good Friday is the best day to plant potatoes because the devil holds no power over them at this time.
All of these “best days” suggest an early spring planting! (See more about planting below.)
Reader Comments
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2nd planting
My first round of potatoes this season are starting to die it’s mid July. Can I plant a second go round of tubers. I’m on the East Coast of MD. and our first frost usually comes in late October early November.
start potatoes now?
It’s a tough call, that’s what makes gardening interesting. Try it. Remember that potatoes like a cool start; they are usually planted 2 to 4 weeks before the last spring frost. They’ll also need 6 hours of sun per day … as the days grow shorter… It will depend, too, on the days to maturity of the variety you plant. Finally, we wouldn’t plant them in the same bed; remember the value of rotation. Test the soil wherever you do put them. And good luck! You won’t know if you don’t try.
Potato flowers
Should I dead head the flowers that have formed on my potato plants?
Potatoes
I planted a white potato and got red potatoes... How did this happen? I mean they are still delicious, but I'm confused on how this happens.
potato mystery
Hmm. We’re stumped on this one! If it was truly a white potato, it should not have yielded red potatoes. Could it be that there was a red potato in the ground in the same area, perhaps one left in the ground from last year, that decided to sprout this year? It’s certainly puzzling!
Potatoes
It was my first time trying to grow potatoes. Will try again next year and see what happens!
Red + white = white?
We planted alternating varieties of red and white potatoes and the all produced white potatoes. It that to say that the white ones were dominant in pollination?
Potatoes sprouting
It is March and I am in zone 4. My potatoes are starting to sprout, how can I delay the sprouting until planting time, Late May, probably?
Starting from seed
Hello, I was given several potato berries and was told I could try planting the seeds for potato plant starts. I see from my customized calendar on your site that I should sow outdoors starting in March after the danger of frost has passed (I am in Seattle), but when should I plant the seeds so that the starts are ready at that time? The friend who gave them to me indicated I could start them inside as early as early as January. Could I start them outside in March as well, with a later harvest? One additional concern is a curious kitty who sometimes gets up where she shouldn’t to nibble on plants. Are these plants poisonous to cats? Thank you!
Potato berries take years
Potatoes are in the same family as tomatoes (Nightshade, or Solanaceous), and the “berries” not really good for anything. They are poisonous to eat, and the seeds inside would take several years to grow, and they would not produce the same kind of potatoes as the parent plant. The only people who pay any attention to them are growers and breeders who hope to produce a new variety.
For a reliable crop, purchase seed potatoes with eyes and look to the calendar for planting time—lucky you, in early March!
You will know when your
You will know when your potatoes are fully grown when they are bottled and cause intoxication
small potatoes
I harvested a lot of potatoes, including a lot of small potatoes, this year from certified seed potatoes. Would it be a good idea to save the small potatoes to plant next spring?
Small Potatoes
Small potatoes are no small potatoes! It would certainly be a good idea to save the small ones for replanting. Look for ones that have plenty of “eyes,” as they should have the best chance at producing.
Request for suitable fertilizer composition and chemicals
Hi,
This time my soil is highly moisture due unpredicted heavy rains. My cultivation is just 18 days old. Therefore I need your assistance to choose the fertilizer composition and chemicals to be used. In Sri Lanka we cultivate a variety called Glanora.
Teenie Tiny Potatoes
I planted my swedish fingerling potatoes about 100 days ago. Tried digging some up to hopefully get new potatoes for dinner & only found one, perfectly formed but hardly bigger than a pea! The plants haven't died back yet so will let the rest grow, but is there any chance they'll get much bigger? I'm in North Dakota so gonna run out of time soon before frost.
Tiny Potatoes
At this point, there’s probably not much chance of them getting bigger before their tops die back, but you could wait a few more weeks to see if that helps any. Sorry for your subpar potatoes and we wish you better luck next year!
Red Potatoes - Are they safe to eat right after harvest
This is my first year of harvesting red potatoes. I live in Northern CA zone, 9. Hot summer this year!! I got a nice harvest. My question is the plant never flowered. They did die back and we turned the container over and had lots of potatoes. It's been about a week, and I don't have a cool place to store them. Are they safe to eat? When will I know if they are bad or toxic?
are potatoes safe to eat
Your potatoes should be fine to eat; sometimes the weather is just too hot for plants and they do not perform as expected. One source we consulted said that some potatoes simply do not flower. But if you have spuds, enjoy them! The “cool” place should also be dark and dry, so a basement is usually good, but a closet or under a bed is fine, in a paper bag, for example—just not plastic. (Notice in supermarkets potatoes are in bags with holes.) They should last a few weeks to a couple of months at least, unless your conditions are really unsuitable. We do not suggest a fridge. Congratulations!
Shrivilling
My potatoes shrivel, or go very limp and then die.nits started from one plant and then went to another. What happened and how can i stop this?
wilting potato plants
Potato plants can wilt for a variety of reasons, from diseases (bacterial, fungal, or virus) or insect pests (which can also spread certain diseases; check for pests like aphids or thrips or leafhoppers), to cultural conditions, including lack of water or hot temperatures.
Disease possibilities include verticillium or fusarium wilt. There is also a bacterial wilt. If leaves are actually curling or rolling lengthwise, then it might be a virus such as potato leafroll virus (often transmitted by aphids) or something like blackleg. Black dot can also be troublesome in certain areas of the country.
Another culprit might be potato blight (early blight and late blight); watch the following video to see if your plants look like the ones discussed. It tells you how to control this disease.
https://www.almanac.com/video/5-ways-control-potato-blight
Here is a publication from the PennState College of Agricultural Sciences that gives a good overview of some potato diseases.
http://extension.psu.edu/publications/agrs-075
For best advice, you might contact your county’s Cooperative Extension service. They may be able to study a sample and give you a diagnosis. For contact information, see:
https://www.almanac.com/content/cooperative-extension-services
Hope this helps!
Potatoes
My potatoes are always dry and break up when I boil them. It has happened whichever variety I use. Could it be my soil
Thanks
Potatoes
Hi Corrine,
There are a couple of reasons why your potatoes are breaking apart when boiled. Dry spring weather can cause the problem, or under watering in general. A more likely reason is cooking the potatoes too soon after harvest. Leave them be for a few weeks and try to cook them again.
Wet summer and lenticels
Hello, I live is Scotland and we have had the wettest summer i can ever remember. My spud plants are looking great but i lifted a few potatoes up last night for tea and whilst they were big and healthy they were also covered in white scabs which i have read are called Lenticels and are caused by waterlogging. I am growing a type called setanta which ideally would be a maincrop and therefore left a while yet as the plants have not even started to die back yet. My worry is that if the potatoes are showing signs of waterlogging and the weather is not improving is there a risk of rot or fungal infection? should i lift the whole crop early and harden off as best as possible inside or still leave them in the ground till the plants die back? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you
Pinch the potato flowers?
Hello. I was wondering if pinching the flowers from the potato plants will increase the growing time of the plants? I pinch basil for example instead of letting it bloom out and go to seed.
Potato Flowers
Hi Veronica,
Potatoes have been cultivated to the point where it doesn’t really affect the plant much whether or not the flowers are left to bloom. However, there are some who believe that it helps to pinch the flowers back to encourage more growth of the tubers. It’s all up to your own preference. Either way, once the potatoes bloom, it’s time to stop watering them.
How long do you continue to cover th plants as they grow?
Hello we planted our potatoes about 2 months ago. We built a 12' x 3' box. As they have grown we have continued to hill the plants which now are under 18" of soil. When do we stop hilling the plants as they keep growing through? Thanks
growing potatos
My Father-In-Law said to stop watering my potato crop when they flower, it that right?
when to stop watering potatoes
You should have stopped watering by the time the foliage turns yellow and begins to die off. Your father-in-law is not wrong; you can stop when the potatoes flower; the foliage will begin to fade soon after the flowers fade. The goal is to harvest the potatoes in dry ground. If they ground is wet—from handwatering or rainfall—you risk losing the potatoes to rot.
potatoe plants
I have small green balls that have grown on the potatoes vines, not sure what they are?
small green balls on potato vines
This question comes up every once in a while. Here’s the answer: Tomatoes and potatoes are in the same family. These green balls are fruit! If you slice one open you’ll notice it resembles a tomato. Do not eat these fruits, by the way: thy are poisonous! They can occur on the plant following the flower during cool growing seasons. They are not edible, not will they produce potato plants that resemble the parent plant. Discard them with the end of season refuse.
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