Potatoes are one of the easiest veggies to grow. The recommended way is to buy seed potatoes, which are just tiny potatoes that are certified true to variety and disease free. Unfortunately, I’ve never found them locally and they’re available by mail in the spring–way too late for planting in the desert. I use potatoes from the grocery. Russet, red, or Yukon Gold. Plant what you like to eat.
Cut the potatoes so that each piece has at least one eye. I let them dry for an hour or two and then plant them in a 15-gallon plastic pot (the kind you get at a nursery when you buy a big plant). They’re about 18″ deep.
Put about 3″ of soil in the bottom of the pot and place the potato pieces on top (eyes pointing up). Cover with a couple of inches of soil. Keep it damp, but not sopping wet. When the potatoes sprout (this will take several weeks) and start to grow you’ll keep adding more soil. Leave 3-4″ of the plant exposed.
Keep doing this until the pot is filled. The potatoes will form along the stem in the soil. The plants will continue to grow and will probably bloom. Mine usually start to die in June when the temperature stays well above 100. When you’re ready to harvest, just turn the pot over and dump them out. They really are that easy to grow!
If you planted potatoes in the garden you’d need to dig a trench! Containers are so much easier.
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com, she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
Julie
What time of year do you plant Lois?
tralf
Hi Julie,
Anytime in the late fall. I think the same would be true of the Phoenix area. I've read some gardening articles that say plant in Jan. or Feb. in Tucson, but I've found that's way too late. I planted mine a couple of weeks ago.
Good luck. They're fun and easy to grow.
Lois Britton
I've also heard of people using reusable shopping bags, rolling the sides down, and unfolding as they add more dirt.
There really is a difference in fresh out of the ground potatoes to what you buy in the store.