Growing Your Own Potatoes in 3 Easy Steps

I have grown potatoes in the ground, but I actually prefer growing them in my raised garden beds or large containers. The soil is much easier to dig into, and I feel like I get a better potato harvest because the soil is so much looser. You'll just want to grow them in a raised bed that they have all to themselves so you don't risk disturbing other plants at harvest time.

The one hard thing about growing potatoes is just being patient while all that deliciousness forms underground. I plant my potatoes in April, and by May, I'm usually questioning whether or not I did something wrong because it doesn't seem like anything's growing. By July, I have an abundant potato harvest.

Here are the three steps I follow to grow my potatoes in raised beds or containers.

When to Plant Potatoes in Raised Beds

Potatoes should be started in the cool season, and they'll grow into the warm season. They can be planted in raised beds as early as 30 days before your last frost. In my garden here in Ohio, that's in April.

The soil in your raised beds should be workable much sooner than the ground, and you don't have to worry about late spring frosts because the soil will protect your little spuds.

Plant Seed Potatoes

You can get seed potatoes from your local nursery. Seed potatoes are basically shriveled up potatoes with the little eyes on them. They're starting to sprout, so they're no longer for eating.

You'll cut your seed potatoes into little pieces so that you have one eye per piece.

Dig holes that are about 4 to 6 inches deep and spaced every 12 inches. Place one little potato piece per hole, sprouts up. The seed companies and nurseries will say to do 18 to 24 inches between potato plants, but I've never found that kind of spacing to be necessary in a raised bed. One foot apart is plenty.

Cover your potato pieces with dirt and water your garden.

Hill Around Your Potato Plants

Once you've planted your potatoes, you have to be patient because you're not going to be able to see the growth for a while yet. You might be tempted to dig up a potato and check on its progress. Just wait. Have faith in nature.

Just when you've given up hope, you'll start to see little sprouts coming up. Once the first leaves emerge, the plants really start taking off. The above-ground foliage will grow nice and big. This is when you can begin hilling your plants. Take some finished compost and push it around the base of your potato plants to form little mounds. Cover up most of the foliage (perhaps 6 inches or so), leaving just the top part sticking up.

Hilling helps to protect the growing tubers and encourages more growth. You don't want the tubers exposed to sunlight, or they'll turn green and bitter. And no one wants to eat green potatoes.

I usually hill my potatoes up at least one more time as we move toward summer. The foliage will get pretty tall, about 18 to 24 inches tall, I'd say.

You might see pretty little purplish or white flowers forming on your plants. Potato flowers are a good sign that your spuds are getting closer to harvest time. You just have to be patient for a little bit longer. It's still not time to harvest yet.

Harvest Your Potatoes

Potato harvest time is about 90 days after planting. It varies based on the type you're growing. The potatoes I plant in April are typically ready to harvest in July.

Wait to harvest until your plant starts looking scraggly. The foliage will begin to die off as the plant sends all its energy toward the tubers. So don't worry when you see those leaves turning brown. Even though everything looks terrible up top, good stuff is happening underground.

Wait about two weeks after the foliage starts dying to harvest. I look at my plants and say, "Do you have potatoes for me yet?" and then I just follow my heart. My heart says different things depending on how patient I've had to be for these potatoes to grow. Some years I get impatient and dig up one plant to see what's happening. If the potatoes underground don't look ready, I'll leave the rest of the plants to keep on growing for another couple of weeks.

When it's time to harvest, pull up the plants at the base of the stem. The soil in your raised beds should be nice and loose, which makes harvesting a bit easier. You should see lots of little potatoes on the roots. How many potatoes depends on the potato variety you're growing. Fingerlings will give you a lot more potatoes per plant cuz they're so little. I typically expect about 15 spuds per plant with fingerlings.

Make sure to dig around in the soil a bit to make sure you didn't miss any little potato presents. It's like digging for buried treasure.

Cure Your Potatoes Before Storing Them

You can eat some of your potatoes immediately, but any spuds you plan on storing will need to be cured first. Curing lets the skin toughen up so that you can keep your potatoes in your pantry for months.

Shake the dirt off your potatoes before curing them. Don't wash them at this point.

All you have to do is spread out your potatoes on some type of screen somewhere indoors that's warm and dry. The screen allows the tubers to still have some air flow.

Let your potatoes cure for two weeks. Then they're ready to go. I find my homegrown potatoes stay fresh in my pantry much longer than the ones from the grocery store.

Those Are the Simple Steps to Grow Potatoes in Raised Beds & Containers

Hope you get an abundant potato harvest this summer!