Potato facts When you want to chit or ‘sprout’ your seed potatoes lay them on trays or in egg boxes in a light place avoiding direct sunlight which can wither and stress your seed potatoes. Chitting in shade only produces long brittle white shoots that can break off when planting comes around.
First earlies (that’s what we are currently planting) will be ready for just around Xmas when you can ‘bandicoot’ or rob some new potatoes from around the base of the plant and then continue to earth up until final flowering and die-off.
Seaweed - pre-foetid state
Wilted comfrey leaves
Lining the planting trench with Comfrey or seaweed offers a boost of potassium which you’re your potato off to a good start.
In between the storms and wild weather you may get the opportunity to plant some potatoes in your garden. We have dug out trenches and lined them with goodies ready for potatoes which we will probably plant sometime next week – weather permitting!
The key steps for planting in the garden are:
1. Dig out a trench that is about 15cm deep and line with seaweed and wilted comfrey leaves if you can get them.
Trenches dug out and lined with seaweed, sheep pellets, comfrey leaves and pea straw
- 2. 2. Pour over enough soil to make trench 10cm deep
- 3. Plant early (new) potatoes 25cm apart and main crop (planted around springtime) 35cm apart.
4. Place seed potatoes with sprouts facing upwards and mound up with soil.
5. Put a layer of hay two to three inches thick on top. Mulch hard off the mounded soil and wait for the leaves to show in the following weeks.
Trenches backfilled with enough soil to leave a 10cm deep trench ready for taters to be planted
6. When the shoots do show, wait till they are about 3 or 4 inches tall before adding more hay as a mulching layer up to the top of the leaves.
7. Do this three of four times. When the foliage flops over plants can seem to stop growing so if this happens use loads more straw to keep the foliage upright.
8. Allow to flower or wilt then and then harvest.
9. During growing period if you see any blight pull off leaves – if plants appear to recover then keep mulching with straw until normal harvest.
10. You can ‘bandicoot’ a few early potatoes from each plant by gently moving surface soil away from base of plant and picking a few of the tubers. Replace soil then allow plant to continue to grow until maturity. Yum yum!
For heritage varieties of seed potatoes log on to http://www.koanga.co.nz/
If you are not planting into the ground then you can plant into car tyres or plastic bin liners:
1. Open up bin bag and roll down rim until it is about 10cm from base of bag.
2. Make about 10 or 12 small holes for drainage in the bottom of the bag and add a 10cm layer of compost
3. Put your sprouted potato on the soil and then mound up with some additional soil.
4. When shoots show, allow them to get to about 3 or 4 inches and then unroll the side of the bag so you can add straw or soil enough to reach to the top of the leaves on the shoots. Maintain good watering throughout to nourish developing tubers.
5. Repeat this process 3 or 4 times until flowers appear and plants then wilt.
6. Harvest!
You can repeat the above in car tyres by starting with one tyre on the ground and a potato sitting on a 10cm layer of compost inside the tyre. Mound some soil over the potato and wait for shoots to appear. Earth up or add straw as mentioned above and stack additional car tyres to hold soil until the end of the growing cycle is completed. Bon apetit!
