Posts Tagged ‘planting potatoes’

Potato Growing Success Story in the UK

by Annette Welsford No Comments
growing potatoes

We were delighted to receive a wonderful email from one of our valued customers who purchased our book How to Grow Great Potatoes, an avid potato grower who lives in the UK. He has had great success this growing season and kindly shared his experiences with us. Potato Growing with Rhys Jaggar Rhys Jaggar lives in London, ...

Growing Healthy Potatoes

by Annette Welsford No Comments
potato plant

There is nothing much that beats harvesting a good, healthy crop of potatoes, particularly if you have grown them yourself. While there are many ways to cook potatoes, good healthy home-grown potatoes need nothing more than a rinse before they are cooked. Boiled or baked in the skin, and topped with a knob of butter or ...

Structure of the Potato

by Annette Welsford No Comments
Cut potato

Understanding how a potato is made – or structured – is not only interesting, but it also explains how we are able to reproduce potato plants from the tubers themselves. While true potato seed comes from the berries that form in the foliage of potato plants, this type of seed forms fewer and smaller tubers than ...

Potatoes are a Cleaning Crop

by Annette Welsford No Comments
potato plant

In some parts of the world, particularly Europe, potatoes are considered to be a cleaning crop. This is something to take into account, particularly when it comes to crop rotation, and in gardens where weeds are a problem. Of course whatever veggies you are planning to grow, it is vital to prepare the ground well ...

Review of Potato Varieties

by Annette Welsford No Comments
Potato varieties

It is amazing to discover that the humble potato comes in many varieties and colours. The sad part though is that if you aren't aware of the possibilities, you may find yourself severely limited in terms of choice when it comes to seed and stock possibilities to plant in your home veggie garden. Depending where ...

Ancient History of the Potato

by Annette Welsford No Comments
History of Potato

Ancient Inca Terraces constructed for farming Source: www.travelblog.com The potato has a fascinating, if rather contradictory history that goes back many centuries. Now considered to be the world's fourth most important crop (after wheat, rice and maize), the potato (Solanum tuberosum) originally grew wild throughout the South American Andes. There are known to be more 200 wild ...

Growing Potatoes in Tyres

by Annette Welsford No Comments
Potatoes growing in Tyres

Potatoes growing in tyres Just when you thought it would be impossible to grow potatoes in your own backyard, someone tells you about the ingenious – although no longer new – idea of growing potatoes in old car tyres. What could be more sustainable than this? You get to find a use for what would probably ...

How Much Space do You Need to Grow Potatoes at Home?

by Annette Welsford No Comments
Field of Potatoes

Field of Potatoes Potatoes are an incredibly important commercial crop all over the world. They also, undeniably, take up a lot of space. If you look at farmers' fields of potatoes you will surely imagine they go on forever. This is probably why relatively few home gardeners bother with potatoes. Another reason is that they are ...

Potato Greens are Poisonous

by Annette Welsford No Comments
Potato Greens are Poisonous

NEVER eat potato greens. It may not seem obvious, but the green leaves of potatoes that grow above the ground are poisonous. Even eating small quantities of what we call "potato greens" can make a person very sick. Indigenous to parts of South America, including Peru, Chile and Bolivia, the potato has been grown ...

Which Pests like Eating Potatoes?

by Annette Welsford 3 Comments
Potato Leafhoppers

Growing your own potatoes can be a lot of fun, and if you get it right, rewarding too. But we aren't the only creatures that like potatoes, and you need to take steps to ensure that pests don't eat your potato crop before you get a chance to harvest it. Whilst you can't see the potato ...