Planting Information > How to Grow > Potatoes

You can grow potatoes all year round in S.E. Queensland!

Sebago is a variety in most states, Delaware is popular is Western Australia while Brownell is an old favourite in Tasmania.

One way to plant is to dig trenches, cover the bottom with blood and bone at 112 cup per metre and some comfrey leaves. Then just cover this with some soil. Pre-sprout potatoes in a paper bag. If the tuber is too big then slice it in to chunks each with an eye and leave the cuts to dry naturally. Lay the tubers on the soil in the trench with the shoots aiming upwards, cover the tubers with soil.

Water well when the shoots appear. When the shoot is 30cm high fill the trench to soil level. With further growth of 30 cm, mound up the soil around it. Fertilise again, because the larger the canopy the better. Rows should be at least 750mm apart for a good crop ( plant closer to get rid of weeds).

Good drainage is essential. They do good on friable soils with good crumb structure. Water regularly to promote smooth, well developed potatoes. When buying seed potatoes look for Government Certified tubers as these are free of virus disease.

You can start digging 'new' potatoes about 3/4 weeks after the plants have flowered and the lower leaves turn yellow. If the potatoes are to be stored, allow the tops to die off completely before digging. Store in a cool dry place which must be dark to prevent the skins from greening.

The potato method of starting a garden.

• Select the appropriate site and size for your garden.
• Dig up 'patches' of soil about 15 cm in diameter, spaced about 35-40 cm apart.
• Have your selected seed potatoes ready.
• Plant 2/3 seed potatoes in each "patch' just covered with soil.
• Cover the existing grass between the 'patches' with sheets of newspaper.
• The whole area is then covered with straw to a depth of 10-15 centimetres.
• The potatoes come up through the straw and the grass underneath is killed for lack of light.
• The garden can be extended in this way when you are ready for a larger patch.
• Information from from Yates Garden guide and Jeffrey Hodges Natural Gardening.

Potato Tips

• Yield from one whole potato is greater than the yield from one half a tuber.
• But the yield from two half cut potato tubers is greater than one whole uncut tuber
• Potato tubers with two long spidery shoots yield larger and more potatoes than same variety with two sturdy short shoots.
• Long fragile shoots (kept in dark) need hardening off for one day in daylight before planting.
• Organically grown once potato tubers yield equally fresh tubers.

Go Gourmet

In recent years, more people have come to appreciate the unique characteristics of varieties of potatoes. You are unlikely to want to turn your whole garden over to spuds, but growing a few gourmet varieties is easy and rewarding.

The cooler months of the year are the preferred planting time in warm climates, but if you live in cooler regions, you will need to wait until the treat of frost has passed.

Plant your see potatoes into well-drained soil or use the no-dig method. This involves planting just below the soil level and progressively covering the emerging growth with layers of compost and straw.

Nurseries and produce stores sell disease-free seed potatoes. Some diseases that affect potatoes remain in the soil for decades. Planting see potatoes rather than peelings or tubers kept too long in the vegetable crisper minimises the risk of introducing these diseases into your garden.

For really big potatoes, try the variety know as Spunta. When it comes to taste Dutch Cream is hard to beat. The small, finger-like variety know as Kipfler produces tubers with a waxy, yellow flesh. This gourmet variety will produce good harvests in the home garden.

Toolongi Delight produces tubers with deep purple skin and white flesh. Purple Congo provides great colour contrast in potato salad with both the skin and flesh deep purple.

Impatient gardeners can bandicoot a few spuds by feeling beneath the straw/soil for the largest tubers. Alternatively, wait until the green top growth dies back and retrieve your bounty. Fresh, home-grown potatoes are unbeatable. After you taste them you will wish you had grown more!

Annette McFarlane