Learn How I Harvest Over 500 lbs of Potatoes a Year
🥔 Growing Potatoes Made Simple
Growing potatoes can feel intimidating, but with the right approach, anyone can produce a bountiful harvest—even enough to last the entire year.
Planting & Growing Overview
Choose healthy seed potatoes and prepare your garden space.
Plant in rows or trenches and make sure they have enough room to grow.
Cover tubers properly as the plants grow to avoid sun exposure and keep them safe.
💡 Hint: Hilling your potatoes throughout the season helps protect them and encourages larger yields.
Watering & Care
Potato plants need consistent moisture, but overwatering can be a problem.
Keep an eye out for common pests and general plant health.
Tip: Observing your plants regularly ensures a stronger, more productive crop.
🥔 Harvest & Storage Overview
Potatoes are ready to harvest when the plants naturally die back.
Harvest carefully to avoid damaging your tubers.
Proper storage in a cool, dark place extends your harvest for months.
💡 Insider Hint: Saving a few small tubers ensures you’ll have your own seed potatoes for next season.
Want Step-by-Step Directions?
Growing 500 lbs of potatoes is easier when you have a complete roadmap. My book, “Seed to Plate: A Homesteading Guide”, walks you through every step of planting, maintaining, harvesting, and storing potatoes—plus dozens of other crops and homestead skills.
🎥 See it in action! Watch this video where I show exactly how I grow, care for, and harvest my potatoes: https://youtu.be/XjDN7SuOY7c
👉 Grab your copy of my book Seed to Plate to start growing your own bountiful, nourishing harvests
Potato Plant Maintenance- an Important Step
Disease – rhizoctonia or “black scurf”, notice the black spots on the potato. The potato is fine and still edible, just peel instead of eating the whole thing. If you see this, the next year try applying MST Myco Seed Treat – it does help minimize. I purchase from Maine Potato Lady and click on “Soil Inoculants”.
How to Harvest – The plants will die back and this is my indication it’s time to harvest. I typically harvest my potatoes in September and on dry days, so look at the weather and find days that are dry for several in a row. Or if you see lots of rain coming make sure to dig up prior. Use a potato fork and start on one side of the plant farther away than you think and dig, go to the other side and do the same. There are many hidden ones, but it’s such a great treasure to find!
How to Store – After digging up lightly brush off the dirty and store in crates with plenty of airflow, or hang in bags with lots of holes like onion bags, or crates. Place these in an area that is dark and about 35-40 degrees F with high humidity if possible. Mine doesn’t always have high humidity since it’s during the winter. You can get the potatoes to last at least 6 months in these conditions. Make sure to save the small tubers and keep in the darkness to be your “seed” potatoes next year. Your eyes will be much longer when you save your own, but it works out just fine. My “eyes” have been 3 feet long and I plant these in the ground like above but lay the eye out on top of the soil.
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