Potatoes
T
hey are the fourth largest food crop in the world, packed with nutrition, easy to grow and very versatile in the kitchen. The humble potato can be grown in
straight rows in the garden plot, in bags or pots or tucked among the annuals to save space. The word potato comes from the Spanish patata, which is
a compound of the native word, batata or sweet potato, and papa, meaning potato. It’s all very confusing, but the bottom line is that potatoes are just as good by any other name, even spud, which apparently stems from a word used to describe potato-digging instruments. As for taste – the store-bought spuds just can’t compare
to the homegrown variety unless you have a farmer’s market next door. Most potatoes are started from other potato tubers. Look
for certified seed potatoes; the store-bought varieties have most likely been treated to retard sprouting. Potatoes do, however, produce true seeds which appear on the plants as small green, tomato-like balls after flowering. These seeds can be saved using the same methods as you would for saving tomato seeds, but be aware that the crop they will produce will be varied. Each seed may contain a different DNA and
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produce a potato different from its brother. This makes life interesting, if not predictable.
How to grow Preparations. Potatoes prefer light, sandy soil, but will
grow almost anywhere. If you are planting large numbers, make the soil as light and pebble- or lump-free as possible by tilling and raking. Then dig a shallow trench about three inches deep. Put fertilizer into the hole and cover that with an inch of soil. (The heavier the soil, the shallower the planting: two to three inches for clay soils, three to four inches for light sandy soils). You can also plant potatoes in individual holes. Companion plants. Bush beans, cabbage family vege-
tables, parsnips corn and peas are all good companions for potatoes. Seed stock. Potatoes sprout from their “eyes”, the small
indentations on all potatoes. To use them as seed, you can cut each potato into sections. You need at least one and prefer- ably two eyes on each cutting. Some gardeners recommend letting the cut seeding stock rest for 24 to 48 hours to allow a protective coating to form over the cut areas to reduce soil infection.
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