This spring the Mangin family (that's us) decided to plant a garden! I grew up with my dad having a huge garden and I have fond memories of weeding it, going out to cut swiss chard before dinner, harvesting squash, and I'm 100% sure I hated every second of those chores as a kid. LOL Isn't it funny how we can tweak our memories over time! So we planted a medium sized garden and so far- so good! One thing I really wanted to try was potatoes!! I went to our local Agway and they were super helpful in teaching me all about growing spuds! Today I'm gonna share what I learned!
So, first things first… did you know potatoes don't grow down into the ground?? That's right, they actually grow UP! What the What?? I was seriously confused and shocked by that info! It was recommended that for a potato rookie like me, that I try a potato container garden first. You can use a plain, plastic trash barrel, but I had a metal bucket on hand. Any container that's a few feet deep will do.
Since my container wasn't intended for plants, I drilled some holes for drainage…
Next, I ripped up some old newspapers and put them at the bottom. Potatoes like really damp soil, so the paper will help retain the moisture better!
I bought Yukon Gold potatoes because they're my very favorite for mashed potatoes. Did you know that mashed potatoes are in my top 3 favorite foods??? Yup! And it was always was a tell-tale sign when I was preggers because I would want potatoes 24-7! One time we hadn't told Eric's parents yet that we were expecting baby #2, but I went and ordered Baked potato soup, mashed potatoes, and a baked potato for dinner at a restaurant. Ha! I think it was a tad obvious!
If you want to grow potatoes, you can't just use store bought ones- they can introduce disease to your whole crop. You have to buy seed potatoes (you can use store bought ones and grow your own slips, but it's super complicated sounding and seed potatoes cost like a buck!)
Add 2 inches of dirt on top of your paper- potatoes like really loose soil, so don't use hard rocky stuff. Each potato should have some eyes and you'll want to plant them with eyes facing up! My spuds had really sensitive eyes, so I loaned them my shades. (#cheeseballblogger)
Layer another 2-3 inches of loose soil over your potatoes and you're done… for now…
Your potatoes will begin to grow and once your shoots are about 3 inches tall, you'll add more dirt to cover them up again. I told Kira and Callen it's like potato hide and seek. They helped me plant these and we're excitedly waiting for our little shoots to be tall enough to"hide" them again!
So, if my pals at Agway are right, later in the season we'll be harvesting our first potato crop! This was such a fun and quick project that the kids and I had a blast doing. I definitely recommend giving it a whirl!
Have you ever planted spuds? Any potato lovers like me out there?
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