When I use to grow in Southern California, it meant that the ground would be dry 8-9 months, summer days are like a blow torch, we still have frosts believe it or not, and the relief of rain just doesn’t exist period. Rock hard hydrophobic soil is tough going for potato growers unless you prepare for those conditions and prep accordingly. Fortunately I’m not in that predicament now that I live in north Tennessee where the moisture is high, summer days are still hot with good humidity, occasional rain showers keep you cool, and the soil is nice and plump for the most part. It doesn’t come without its difficulties as far as bugs, fungus, and stormy weather goes, but for the most part I prefer growing out here compared to Cali any day of the week. Apparently I’m still salty about not having rain for 8-9 months out of the year in that dang Sunshine State and even auto-irrigation can only do so much which typically has issues from the heat, but fortunately this growing guide will suite any gardener regardless of the conditions.
Let’s walk through how I like to approach growing the once inexpensive household tuber which is now going for $6-$8 bucks for a 5lb bag now. Sad, but unfortunately very true.
To prepare the raised bed, I like to scrummage through my forest for rotten soggy logs to add fill for the bottom of the bed otherwise you could be tempted to fill it with money sucking compost, but its completely up to you.
These logs provide moisture retention and feed the soil as they break down. Making sure they’re good and squishy otherwise they may pull nitrogen from the soil if they’re not in the active decaying phase yet
Cover the rotten logs with compost or a manure compost mix then cover that with a deep layer of straw. It’s always nice to get seedless straw, but it isn’t the biggest deal to pull the sprouts when they rear up. Some people get all worked up about it, but it just isn’t a biggy.
Mix in another layer of compost within that deep layer of straw to give it some nutrient density for the potatoes to feed on, and top that with a thick layer of compost. In total you want to have about 16-18 inches of growing medium when all is said and done.
I feel like I always have a few sprouted potatoes at all times in my kitchen that somehow get left behind, and those will work great for this, but you want to grab seed potatoes from a local hardware depot, tractor supply, or your favorite garden surplus store (mine is Rural King in Clarkesville, TN) to really have a relatively predictable harvest. We eat a lot of Yukon golds so I’m just going heavy on those for this season with a few white potatoes sprinkled in form my kitchen.
Typically I plant my tubers at least 6 inches below the soil to give them space to multiply without them surfacing, but generally speaking 6-8 inches is a good benchmark. If your potatoes do reach sunlight they will turn green and that won’t be a good thing since they become fairly toxic. At that point they’ll only be good for re-seeding so make sure to bury them suckers deep.
Cover up the potatoes real good with the soil/straw mix, cover that with an another 2-3 inches of straw to finish, and you’re good to go. Just make sure to give the potatoes a good watering every now and again, but usually I don’t have to worry too much about that with as much rain as we get through spring and early summer.
These will take around 90-100 days to mature and I’m anticipating a 7x-10x harvest, but you just never know what exactly you’ll end up pulling out. I’ve had some grow 10-12 potatoes per seed, and sometimes only 3 or 4. I could probably stretch the beds and add another 10 or so seed potatoes, but this will be a good bar to set and see how it goes.
For two brand new fresh beds this cost me 8lbs of seed potatoes at .99 cents/lb, 8 bags (1CF each) of compost at $3 a bag, and 1 1/4 bales of straw at $10 a bale…with the help of some soggy logs from my forest as well. You by no means need a garden bed to grow potatoes as I’ve just grown them out of a mound at one point, but the raised beds do keep it tidy if you have limited space.
Total Approximate Cost: $52
Garden Beds: $190 each (optional)
With the prepped out beds you’ll recoup the cost in growing your own produce in 2 years, but without those in mind, this method will pay itself back within the growing cycle by double. Plus, these beds can be used for all sort of root vegetables throughout the fall season so this is a no brainer if you’re thinking twice about it. Happy tater tot growing.
Go get them taters!
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