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Connecticut Garden Journal
Connecticut Garden Journal is a weekly program hosted by horticulturalist Charlie Nardozzi. Each week, Charlie focuses on a topic relevant to both new and experienced gardeners, including pruning lilac bushes, growing blight-free tomatoes, groundcovers, sunflowers, bulbs, pests, and more.

Connecticut Garden Journal: Planting Potatoes

Potato plants
PatchworkPottery (Flickr / Creative Commons)
Potato plants

Many gardeners void growing potatoes because they are so common and inexpensive in stores and they take up lots of room in their garden. But home-grown potatoes can be lots of fun. Let me share 3 ways to grow your own spuds.

Here's a simple way to grow them without planting in rows or hilling plants with soil. Connecticut's own Ruth Stout used this no-till gardening method in the 1970's. She dropped seed potatoes on the ground, buried them in hay, straw or chopped leaves and had a great harvest. The keys are to loosen the soil with a hoe, cover the seed potatoes with 8 inches of organic matter and keep them well watered. As the plants grow add more hay and chopped leaves. In late summer, remove the mulch and harvest! 

To avoid rodent damage, plant seed potatoes in tall, wooden raised beds. Beds raised 3 feet tall, and lined on the bottom with hardware cloth, are perfect for potatoes. Mice and voles avoid getting into the beds and you get a better harvest because of all the great compost and topsoil you added.

A final way to grow potatoes is in containers. I use lightweight fleece, grow bags. I place a layer of potting soil in the bottom, drop 3 to 4 seed potatoes in the bag, and barely cover them with soil. As they grow I cover the stems and leaves with more potting soil and compost until the plants reach the top of the container. And I keep it well watered. In late summer, tip the container over and watch the potatoes flow out.

Charlie Nardozzi is a regional Emmy® Award winning garden writer, speaker, radio, and television personality. He has worked for more than 30 years bringing expert information to home gardeners.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Fund the Facts

You just read trusted, local journalism that’s free for everyone, thanks to donors like you.

If that matters to you, now is the time to give. Join the 50,000+ members powering honest reporting and a more connected — and civil! — Connecticut.

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