Food costs are rising, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. What is our food made of anymore? What fertilizers and chemicals are used on our produce? What growth hormones and antibiotics do we consume with every bite of meat? How does our affect our health and the health of our family? How secure is the food system in the community where we live?

These are questions we ponder often, and every year we repeat the words, “Salmon, potatoes, and garlic- that’s all we need.” And by the grace of God we have 200 pounds of salmon in the freezer, 300 pounds of potatoes, and more than 250 bulbs of garlic. Will we still have to buy food from the store? Of course. But those numbers are added to other items produced from the garden, including cabbage, beets, peas, berries, kale, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts.

This was the best yield of potatoes for our family yet, and here is how we did it.

1. All of the seeds planted were third generation saved seeds from our land. Some say this makes a difference by allowing the specific plant to become accustomed to our specific microclimate. Others don’t think it makes a difference.

2. The 30″ wide potato beds receive full sunlight from morning to night in a slightly sloped south-facing area. They have wood chips from a 20′ x 20′ x 8′ tall wood pile that composted for 12 years before being spread out with an excavator. Great aeration and great drainage.

3. Last fall we covered the beds in a thick leaf mulch to breakdown over winter and protect soil from leeching nutrients. Leaves were tilled into beds in the spring.

4. Tilled in 5 buckets of cow manure and a thin layer of dolomitic lime per bed before planting.

5. We used Typar (the black stuff used when installing driveways) as a weed barrier in the paths between beds. This reduced time spent weeding by 100 hours at least.

6. We planted seeds 6″ deep 18″ apart in a single row in a 30″ wide bed. At least 1 big potato seed with 2-3 eyes per hole. Sometimes we used 2-5 seeds per hole. We added a sprinkle of langbeinite, rock phosphate, and blood meal per hole.

7. We (Savanna and WWOOFER) hand-weeded within potato beds to keep fireweed and horsetail from dominating.

8. We mounded the potatoes as foliage grew with buckets of aged chicken manure and compost.

9. We walked the potato beds at least every couple of days to make sure potatoes didn’t pop out of ground. We found an entire bed had popped out, not sure why? Reburied seeds.

10. We planted the potatoes on May 15th and harvested them right around September 20th. Over 4 months of growing in full sunlight.

11. We had 1 bed that grew peas and potatoes, and that one did worse than the beds that had just potatoes.

12. We watered the potato beds (mainly because of the beets and peas in the garden area) at least five times during dry times. They should get around 1″ of water per week.

Next Year:

We will start the year with a soil sample test from our local NRCS office and add amendments based on results.

We will add a few different varieties to increase diversity. We thought we had at least 20 pounds of Yukon Golds leftover from last year, but we only had around 1-3 pounds. This explains why we had many reds.

We will not use the same beds again.

We will not have cow manure to use (thanks neighbors) so we will use aged chicken manure and more compost.

Growing potatoes is one of the easiest and funnest vegetables to grow in the home garden. The kids love planting, harvesting, and eating them just as much as adults. If you’re not growing potatoes yet, next year is a great year to start. Send us an email and we will do our best to guide you along the way.