Growing Organic Potatoes in 7 Easy Steps

Potatoes are rich sources of vitamins and minerals.  The tubers of potatoes are rich in natural fibers, vitamin C, and potassium.  Growing organic potatoes on your own garden is fairly easy. And the good thing is, this plant is not so choosy on soil condition and sturdier especially if proper soil and seed conditioning has been done prior to planting.

Soil and seed preparation is important in growing organic potatoes.  You must carefully choose the seeds you will plant.  You can find certified and healthy seeds from reputable home and gardening stores.  Two weeks before planting, place the seed in a warm and dark room to promote sprouting.  If seeds have sprouted, make sure to choose only those that have healthy growth. Throw away shriveled seed and those that have very small sprouts.

Parallel to seed preparation is soil conditioning.  Condition the soil by incorporating organic compost materials. Make sure that you cultivate the soil thoroughly because potatoes love loose soils.  Irrigate the soil but don’t overdo it.  Potatoes thrive on damp environments but you should also make sure water can pass through easily in the soil.

Create garden beds by trenching several rows of cultivated soil.  Make sure that you have thoroughly incorporated the compost and soil. Sprinkle water on it occasionally to increase the soil’s oxygen content.

Now you can plant those healthy seedlings. Arrange the seedlings on the conditioned garden beds. Make sure that the spacing between seeds is not less than 1 inch.  Cover the seeds with a handful of compost soil.  It is important that your garden beds are slightly damp before planting the seedlings.  This will further promote sprouting.

Don’t water the garden beds until sprouts have manifested above the soil covering.  During this stage, you should make extra effort to fight invasive and competitive weeds.  That’s you should conduct daily weeding.  This will allow the seeds to get the full nutrient content of the soil.

Pests should be kept out.  The best way to fight pests is to pick them up from the potato leaves or you can make a buffer zone of daisies or carrot plants around the garden beds.

You will know that your potatoes are ready for harvesting when its leaves begin to turn yellow. You should dig up a few tubers from different garden beds.  This is like random sampling.  Through this, you can determine if the whole lot is ready for harvesting.