Growing potatoes is an easy thing to do, I was told, and the sentiment echoed on several gardening forums online. I usually get organic potatoes from Whole Foods, and when they were on sale one day in December, I got an extra pound so I could plant them. As it happened, I had to use most of them, and one got left behind that I forgot about. December was a busy month. When I finally got a moment by the end of the month, I found this spud sitting there in a dark spot, waiting to be discovered. 'Chitting' had already begun, and the eyes looked like they were ready to grow.
There was a spot in one of the raised bed that I decided to use. I cut the potato into three parts and planted those at the bottom of the bed, moving some soil to the side. I would use this soil to 'hill' the plants as they grew.
As I read more about growing potatoes, I came across the term 'hilling'. There are several YouTube videos that describe the method in detail. It is also called 'earthing up'. Some people swear by it, and others feel using the method does not necessarily increase the yield.
Then the big freeze hit the Texas gulf coast in the first week of January for three nights in a row, and temperatures dipped to 20 degrees F overnight. I had covered most of my raised beds with Plankets I had found at Costco last year, but I wasn't very hopeful any of my plants would survive such an onslaught of cold temperatures.
Surprisingly, by the end of January, I found lots of leaves growing, which I first mistook for weeds.
I did fill in soil at the roots as they do in hilling, and repeated the process three times in all, as the plants grew.
Finally, last week, I saw some of the leaves had started to turn yellow. When the leaves look like that, it means the potatoes are ready.
This morning I decided to dig around a little to see what was going on in the soil. A big potato lay just below the surface! So I dug around some more, and found several more. Success!
It was not a bad harvest from just one potato! They look so fresh! I plan to cook them tonight.
There was a spot in one of the raised bed that I decided to use. I cut the potato into three parts and planted those at the bottom of the bed, moving some soil to the side. I would use this soil to 'hill' the plants as they grew.
As I read more about growing potatoes, I came across the term 'hilling'. There are several YouTube videos that describe the method in detail. It is also called 'earthing up'. Some people swear by it, and others feel using the method does not necessarily increase the yield.
Then the big freeze hit the Texas gulf coast in the first week of January for three nights in a row, and temperatures dipped to 20 degrees F overnight. I had covered most of my raised beds with Plankets I had found at Costco last year, but I wasn't very hopeful any of my plants would survive such an onslaught of cold temperatures.
Surprisingly, by the end of January, I found lots of leaves growing, which I first mistook for weeds.
I did fill in soil at the roots as they do in hilling, and repeated the process three times in all, as the plants grew.
Finally, last week, I saw some of the leaves had started to turn yellow. When the leaves look like that, it means the potatoes are ready.
This morning I decided to dig around a little to see what was going on in the soil. A big potato lay just below the surface! So I dug around some more, and found several more. Success!
It was not a bad harvest from just one potato! They look so fresh! I plan to cook them tonight.
I will try to grow white potatoes soon, without hilling, and compare how the method fares.
how awesome is that!!! you are growing the proverbial green thumb and how!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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