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© Frances Michaels
COMMON NAMES: Spuds, taters, patata (Spanish), patat ( Italian), pomme de terre (French), aardappel (Dutch), ziemniaki (Polish), alu (Hindi, Nepali, Bengali), kentang (Malay, Indonesian), BOTANICAL NAME: Solanum tuberosum FAMILY: Solanaceae, the tomato family PLANT DESCRIPTION Potatoes like a fertile, deeply dug, moist, acidic soil with a pH of less than 6. They do not grow well in heavy clay or a limed soil, which promotes potato scab. To avoid this, always rotate your potato patch each year. Many older varieties of potatoes have lost favour commercially because of either deep eyes or an irregular shape but may have many advantages to the home grower in hardiness, disease resistance and prolific production.
Uses:
Potatoes can be grown in many months of the year,
depending on whether the garden receives frost, as
potatoes are frost-tender. Potatoes need 60-90 days
frost-free to be successfully harvested; potatoes
harvested early as ‘new’ potatoes do not store well.
In northern NSW and QLD one of the best planting
times is March-April, as the soil is warm, growth is
rapid and there are generally less pests. For frosty
areas, potatoes can be planted in early spring,
shortly before the last expected frost. Planting can
continue into summer although the risk of pest and
disease damage increases as the weather becomes
hotter, particularly in humid areas. Green Harvest
offers certified seed potatoes in March-April and
July-August.
There are many different ways to plant. These
include: containers, tyres, no-dig, deep mulch and
traditional hilling. All these methods have been
proven successful and potatoes are an easy crop to
grow. The method you choose should suit your garden
area and style. For details on these techniques
search the web or look in any vegetable gardening
book.
Plant the seed potatoes 13 cm deep and then cover
with a mulch 25-30 cm deep. Cutting into smaller
pieces can increase the risk of rot in humid areas.
If you do cut into smaller pieces, leave plenty of
flesh with each eye and allow the cuts to dry for 24
hours before planting. Cutting into too small a
piece can dramatically reduce yield.
Space the tubers 30-35 cm apart. Potatoes are ready for harvesting when the majority of the tops have withered. Early potatoes may be dug for table use at any time but for storage the potatoes should be fully mature. After they are dug, dry as quickly as possible, and then store immediately in a cool, dark, dry place. Exposure to light will turn the potatoes green; green potatoes are poisonous and should not be eaten. It is usually possible to save some of the harvest from a crop of certified seed potatoes for replanting. Doing this more than once can dramatically increase the risk of disease. Potato diseases can take years to eradicate from a garden.
Available from Green Harvest: July to September 2010
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POTATO
GROWING
INFORMATION