Northern Gardening: Potatoes

June is coming around and it is the time to garden for most northerners. There are somethings most gardeners cannot grow in the north like watermelon and peppers. I'm sure there are other things they cannot grow, but these are the main ones. There are exceptions to the rules. If you start your plants early, and you know what you are doing, you can have pretty large plants, like peppers, ready for your garden bed.

Potatoes grow great up north. They love the climate. By the end of the season, you can have huge red potatoes. With a little work you can prepare your bed with aged mulch, manure, and soil. If I was transported to Montana or some other northern state, I would first level out a heap of organic matter like straw on the hard clay soil. You can if you like, previously dig out some soil, sift the rocks out and  amend it with peatmoss, manure, and wood chips (if they are available) and save it for the top layer. Another more expensive way is to buy top soil.

The next step after mulching or adding hay or straw would be to place as much soil on top of the mulch as you can. At least a few feet. If you grow in a foot of soil, harvest the potatoes early when they are young. Be satisfied for the first year to have new or baby potatoes. When you grow on mulch and soil make sure the forming potatoes are never exposed. Either put more soil on the exposed potatoes or more mulch. Green potatoes are poisonous. Throw all green taters away.

When I say use mulch, you can use hay or straw bales. The bales are nothing more than tightly bound mulch that has fancy twine tied around them. I grew potatoes on hay bales last year and had medium sized potatoes in only six inches of soil. However, I had to cover the potatoes when they got exposed to sunlight. However, every gardener has to watch that their potatoes are not exposed to sunlight and if they are they must add mulch or soil over their newly formed potatoes.

By next year your bales or mulch will be composted. All that needs to be done is mix the mulch and the soil together. It will have the richest humus. I grew in the same area as I did last year and the soil was rich and not compacted. Next year, I might go with the bales again and keep the soil nice by alternating: one year bales, and one year no bales.