Growing Potato

Solanum tuberosum : Solanaceae / the nightshade family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
      P P              

(Best months for growing Potato in USA - Zone 5a regions)

  • P = Plant seed potatoes
  • Plant tuber. Best planted at soil temperatures between 50°F and 86°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 12 - 16 inches apart
  • Harvest in 15-20 weeks. Dig carefully, avoid damaging the potatoes.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Peas, Beans, Brassicas, Sweetcorn, Broad Beans, Nasturtiums, Marigolds
  • Avoid growing close to: Cucumber, Pumpkin, Sunflowers, Tomatoes, Rosemary

Your comments and tips

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16 Sep 10, Lexxie (Australia - temperate climate)
you grow sweet potato not from the tuber, but from the shoots. The best way, let your sweet potato grow 20cm shoots, cut them, keep them in water until you see roots come out. Plant them! You can grow shoots from one tuber almost indefinitively!
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08 Jul 10, julian (Australia - tropical climate)
Which is the best breed of potato for the hot 'tropical or sub-tropical' area. Help me give them the best chance i can.
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05 Jun 10, chris wilson (Australia - temperate climate)
how dose one keep peeled uncooked spugs in the fridge / can they be keeped ln water/ if so for how long/ do you need to put anything in the water/ thanks chris
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06 Jun 10, (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
You can keep raw, peeled potatoes for about a day if they are covered with water and kept cool.
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22 May 10, (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Hi There,you can buy seed potatoes in Townsville a a nursery called the Day Dawn Nursery.50 Kokoda Street. I do not have there phone number not to hard to find though.good luck.
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18 May 10, Fritz (Australia - temperate climate)
i bought a whole potato from woolworths, a sebago potato. i placed the whole thing in soil(i rinsed it} and watered it. does anyone know if it will grow and if not how will i have to grow it?
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21 May 10, tony (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
your potato should grow but if you had of cut the same potato into sections that have an eye in each than you would have got many plants of the one potato a tip keep the soil well heaped around each potato this will give lots of potatoes and stop them from greening
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15 May 10, Debra (Australia - temperate climate)
Does anyone know where in West Aus I can get hold of seed potatoes of different varieties? Bunnings usually only has desiree, ruby lou or nicola, and I would like others if possible. Buying the potatoes from stores and letting them shoot is not always as successful as buying the certified seed potatoes (and trying to get the varieties in the shops isn't so easy either). Thanks to anyone who can help.
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04 Oct 13, Kevin (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi Debra , I am an avid potato grower, I like Ruby Lous personally, But Waldeks here in Perth stock about 10 diff varieties of seed potatoes fHope this helps, I lurvv my spuds :)
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16 May 10, Clive (Australia - temperate climate)
Lena's Nursery in Wanneroo Road, Wangara has Delaware, Royal Blue, Ruby Lou, Norland, Eureka and Kestrel seed from "The Spud Factory" in stock at the moment.
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People say you can't plant this after that or plant tomatoes in the same area for a year or two. There is a cycle of how you plant different veggies after each other to best use the soil. BUT you can plant things differently if you like. I have a garden bed approx. 13 m long and it varies from 4 to 7' in depth. Now in the shorter rows I mainly plant lettuce, radish, beetroot, shallots etc and the longer rows corn, tomatoes, snow peas etc. I plant 2 crops per year (autumn and spring) and mix it up a bit - like I will follow radish with lettuce or tomatoes after snow peas. So year after year I plant like this. As long as you give the soil a top up with compost and or fertiliser then you can plant whatever you like. I don't have heaps of diseases etc. My main problems are birds eating young plants (lettuce snow peas) early in the growing season, grubs eating cabbages/broccoli after rain and beans being killed by some worm or something growing into winter. Am going to grow beans in the spring this year - see how that works.

- Mike

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This planting guide is a general reference intended for home gardeners. We recommend that you take into account your local conditions in making planting decisions. Gardenate is not a farming or commercial advisory service. For specific advice, please contact your local plant suppliers, gardening groups, or agricultural department. The information on this site is presented in good faith, but we take no responsibility as to the accuracy of the information provided.
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