It’s simple to domesticate potatoes on a homestead, and it’s correctly worth it: they’re a staple meals which may be utilized in nearly any form of cooking. Should you develop your specific individual potatoes, you in all probability can ensure that they’re pure, non-GMO, and pesticide free. You may merely retailer them with out freezing, drying or canning.
Companion crops—crops that develop symbiotically close to potatoes—may help you improve the yield, top of the range, and properly being of your potato crop. Correct proper right here’s uncover methods to develop a sustainable bumper crop of potatoes through the use of companion planting.
Advantages Of Companion Planting
Pure gardeners uncover that companion planting gives an enormous assortment of advantages together with:
- Elevated yield
- Elevated soil consuming routine
- Insect administration
- Weed administration
Greens To Companion Plant With Potatoes
- Horseradish: Horseradish may make your potato crop further healthful. The inspiration could also be flooring up and changed into a spicy, mustard-like sauce or condiment.
- Beans: Inexperienced beans add essential dietary nutritional vitamins to the soil whereas and assist repel the Colorado potato beetle. In flip, potatoes defend inexperienced beans by repelling the Mexican beetle, a nasty pest that may shortly destroy a lush crop of inexperienced beans.
- Cabbage
- Corn
- Spinach
Flower Energy
Loads of vibrant flowering crops current safety to your potato crop. Helpful blooming companion crops embody:
- Calendula: These flowers, moreover referred to as pot marigolds, are a vibrant addition to any yard and enchantment to pollinating bees. The flowers and youthful leaves are furthermore edible. Add Calendula leaves and flowers to salads, sandwiches, and soups, or use them as a unbelievable garnish.
- Alyssum: This flower acts as a vibrant residing mulch by holding in helpful soil moisture. It furthermore attracts predator wasps that devour dangerous insect pests all through the yard.
- Petunias and Amaranth: These sweet-smelling flowers defend potatoes from leafhoppers.
- Marigolds: Marigolds keep off beetles and fully completely different undesirable bugs.
Crops That Can Hurt Potatoes
Not all crops assist potatoes. The crops listed beneath can actually damage your potato crop or your soil. Positively, some of those crops may even set off blight in potatoes.
- Tomatoes
- Squash
- Cucumbers
- Raspberries
- Pumpkins
- Nightshades (e.g. eggplant, tomato, bell peppers)
- Alliums (e.g. onions, garlic, chives)
- Asparagus
- Turnips
- Carrots
- Sunflowers
Varieties Of Potatoes
Potatoes are a constructive alternative for the homestead yard. They emerge shortly and develop quickly. Potatoes yield correctly beneath most soil and rising circumstances and may be saved for extended intervals with out canning, drying, or freezing.
There are additional than 600 fully fully completely different sorts of potatoes. They’re usually divided into three culinary programs: waxy, starchy and all-purpose.
Waxy Potatoes
Waxy potatoes have an organization texture. Utilized in stews, soups, and salads, waxy potatoes retain their sort all by means of cooking. Crimson Thumb, Carola, Cascade, Yellow Finn, White Rose, and Russian Banana are all widespread varieties.
Starchy Potatoes
Starchy potatoes are most fascinating for baking and frying. As a consequence of their excessive starch content material materials supplies, they’re furthermore absorbent. These potatoes are scrumptious when topped or dipped in sauces. Russet potatoes are the favored form of starchy potato.
All-Intention Potatoes
All-purpose potatoes may very well be utilized in most recipes. They’re furthermore the most fascinating form of potato for mashing. All-purpose potato varieties embody Yukon Gold, Crimson Gold, Purple Majesty, Onaway, Kennebec, Elba, and All-Blue.
Every kind of potatoes may be cultivated in a container, a bucket, the underside, or a bag.
Potato Planting Concepts
Observe the following tips for the proper potential potato crop.
When To Plant Potatoes
Keep away from planting potatoes when the soil continues to be chilly and moist. Potato crops will tolerate a light-weight frost and chilly soil, nonetheless they gained’t sprout till native climate circumstances are favorable. Search the advice of USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Maps to hunt out out the proper planting time to your a part of the nation.
The place To Plant Potatoes
Plant potatoes in a location the place they’ll purchase full photograph voltaic all by the use of the day. Don’t plant throughout the equal space the place you have received planted potatoes prior to now 12 months to have the flexibility to forestall potato scab an an an infection.
Enhance The Soil Prior To Planting
Potatoes develop most fascinating in nutrient-rich, well-drained soil. To fertilize potatoes, add aged herbivore manure or yard compost. In case your soil consists of quantity of clay or is compacted, add sand to spice up texture and drainage.
Potatoes is not going to develop correctly the place water tends to pool. Potatoes develop in 5.5-6 PH soil. The soil must be tilled 10 inches deep and double raked.
Potatoes Do Not Develop From Seeds
It’s possible you’ll not uncover potato seeds or seedlings at your native yard current. Potatoes are grown from “seed” potatoes, which may be merely potatoes with fairly a couple of sprouting eyes. Guarantee that the seed potatoes you choose are bruise and disease-free. At harvest, reserve blemish-free, healthful spuds to your subsequent crop’s seed.
Seed Potatoes Can Be Lower in Devices
Lower your seed potato into devices. Make certain that every piece has a minimal of 1 eye. This course of will improve the yield of your crop. The variety of potatoes you develop will improve, although you may uncover the potatoes are smaller than these you began with.
Give Potatoes Room To Develop
Plant potatoes in rows three ft aside. Crops must be positioned 12-18 inches aside.
Defend Water
Potatoes require about an inch and a half of water per week to develop to their full potential. Based totally on the USDAplanting the potatoes in a flat mattress pretty than ridged rows conserves water and may enhance crop yield.
References
When not working in her yard in Northwestern Montana, Marlene Affeld writes of her love of nature and all factors pure.