by Kim Malkasian

Created on: May 14, 2010

GROWING RAISED BED POTATOES

Raised bed potatoes give you a no-dig growing method that we believe is the easiest way to grow potatoes.

Everyone loves a good potato. But growing potatoes in a home garden can take a lot of space. Most home gardeners shy away from potato growing. With a raised bed garden you can consistently yield a large harvest of potatoes in a compact, easy-to-manage space.

Raised Beds Give the Highest Yield in the Most Compact Space! Container gardening is by far the most efficient square yard of garden you'll ever tend.

Potato plants need plenty of sunshine and well drained soil- making the raised bed a perfect growing environment. Ideal soil is a loose sandy loam with plenty of humus and potash content. Soil needs to have a pH of 4.8-6.5, but don’t hesitate to plant them if the pH is a little higher than that. Almost any good garden soil will raise potatoes.

Start by loosening the soil underneath your Raised Bed Garden, then fill the bed with garden soil. A couple days prior to planting, cut three or four seed potatoes into pieces with at least two or three eyes each, allowed them to callous over. (Most local seed stores have seed potatoes available in early spring.) Then plant them 4-5" deep and 8" apart in two parallel rows.

Caring for your potatoes is easy: Once the sprouts poke up from the soil and have developed a bunch of leaves about 6" high, mulch around them with 2" of straw. Continue adding straw throughout the summer as the plants grow. The straw mulch will help retain moisture, keep the soil cool and keep weeds down.

Potatoes love water. So make sure that the beds receive an inch and a half of water per week. Without rain, this means you would water approximately 20 minutes a day, seven days a week.

Harvest: Two weeks prior to harvest, when your plants begin to die back, stop watering completely. Now it's time to reap your harvest! You will marvel at how many potatoes you find. It is not unheard-of to harvest 300-400 pounds of potatoes in a 4 ft. by 8 ft. raised bed!

Potatoes should be dug as soon as vines die down. Tubers may be spread in a shady place until all clinging dirt has dried. Whisk the dirt off with a soft brush in order to avoid damaging the tender skins and store in a cool, dark, well-ventilated area.

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