- 1). Get your potatoes ready for planting. The University of Georgia suggests using tubers about the size of an egg. You can also cut large potatoes into seed pieces that weigh about 2 ounces each. Every seed piece should have at least two sprouts or "eyes." Cut your seed pieces the day before planting and allow them to dry overnight at room temperature.
- 2). Find a good spot to place your potatoes. Potatoes prefer warm locations that receive plenty of sunlight. You can plant early potatoes after the danger of the last frost has passed for your area. If you plant your tubers or seed pieces too early, then you increase the risk of rot.
- 3). Prepare a container for above ground potatoes. You can grow potatoes in plastic storage bins, trash cans, old tires or bushel baskets lined with plastic. Punch a few holes in the bottom of the container and lay out a single layer of stones to help with drainage.
- 4). Plant your potatoes. Mix 2 to 3 tbsp. of fertilizer into a bucket of moist planting soil. Pour about 4 inches of the soil into the container. Place the seed pieces or tubers on top of the soil, keeping them about 8 inches apart. Cover your potatoes with about 4 inches of planting soil.
- 5). Keep your potatoes covered with planting soil. As your potato plants grow, pour more soil around the stems to give the plants room to expand. Leave about 6 inches of room between the soil and the top of the container.
- 6). Plant your potatoes in straw instead of soil. For cleaner potatoes, cover your seed pieces or tubers with straw. Once your potato plants reach about 6 inches above the straw, add an additional 5 inches. Make sure that about 1 inch of the plant remains exposed to sunlight.
- 7). Water your potatoes. Potatoes typically need watering once week. Make sure that you keep the soil or straw evenly moist, but not sopping wet.
- 8). Harvest your above ground potatoes. You can harvest immature spuds to use as new potatoes as soon as the plants begin bearing flowers. Harvest full-grown potatoes after a majority of the vines die. Use a spade fork to gently dig up potatoes planted in soil. Harvest straw potatoes by carefully removing the straw and picking out the potatoes.
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