Potatoes

This is my first year growing potatoes in the garden. My dad always grew them, but I decided to give it a try. I bought a variety of red potatoes. My father-in-law had told me a little bit about a neighbor he has that uses straw when he grows his potatoes. I'm a little late getting the straw down, but I finally got around to it. Part of my problem was finding a farm store that wasn't out of straw already. Here is a great article on growing potatoes in straw: http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/vegetable/tips-for-growing-potatoes-in-straw.htm
and here is a great article on growing potatoes in general: http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/HG_Garden_2005-13.pdf

My potatoes got planted later than I had planned. I wanted to plant them in april, but really they didn't get planted until the end of May. My plants are now about 6 inches high so I put the straw around the plants until just an inch of plants are showing. The straw (or if you choose to use dirt) helps to keep the potatoes from being green when they are harvested. For new (baby) potatoes they are ready to be harvested when the flowers bloom. If you want regular sized potatoes you wait until the vines die off. I've done some reading on different ways to plant potatoes. Some gardeners plant them in old, large nursery pots or garbage cans. I might actually give it a try next year.

Next year as I'm planting my garden I plan on documenting when I actually plant specific plants, and how I go about it. I didn't get this blog up and running until after things had been planted, however I do plan on trying fall cropping of some veggies.