garden news-can i grow potatoes here

GARDEN NEWS-CAN I GROW POTATOES HERE

maybe is my answer

these pictures above are of my red desota potatoes i grew at the country n in texas
this particular crop i grew in my keyhole garden i made from an 8 ft diameter water trough
usually i grew them in my raised beds in my regualr garden

i loved getting those new potatoes as soon as they got big enough to eat
usually you wait until the plant flowers and starts dying back
but
you can dig down and get a few early small ones

and
then you could grow green beans and harvest the early ones about the same time 

so you could have green beans and potatoes

i also would dig them early and wash them or sometimes i just wiped off the dirt and ate them right there in the garden
so much produce would be eaten that way

so when i moved here i tried to grow potatoes and my garden
they rotted
in the main garden here we planted a row of potatoes and they rotted

the problem here is we have good topsoil but down about a foot is clay
if its real rainy
well
potatoes rotten

so after 5 years i tried another method
i grew some in a grow bag i had this fall
it was partially successful with a few small new potatoes

so this january i couldnt find seed potatoes 
i dont remember ever seeing them in the nurseries here
so
i went to whole foods and got some organic red potatoes since they wouldnt be treated with any chemicals to inhibit sprouting


i then placed them in these egg crates and left them in our condo until their eyes sprouted
it took about 2 weeks for that to happen


i had these 30 gallon grow bags i used last year to grow my veggies while i waited for my plastic and mulch to kill the weeds and mint and cane berries in my garden

i filled them with good garden soil potting soil compost and some organic fertilizer
i stirred all that up real good
then
i removed about 3/4 of the soil and placed my now seed potatoes in the soil
the potatoes were small ones
i never cut them up like some folks do
then i covered them up with soil


as the plants grew out of the soil i covered them up until the bag was mostly full
also that long thing in the pot is a loofah 
it had fallen from the vine on the fence into the pot
now
i just kept it watered and waited for the plants to grow out of the last layer of soil

here  are the potato plants a few days ago
now they have a few flowers popping up

i use fish emulsion plus seaweed plus molasses on it every 2 weeks

once the plant flowers and dies back 
then i will harvest the potatoes
pictures to follow

that is 
if i can keep my hands off those new potatoes
you potato growers know what im talking about

so
can i grow potatoes here
so far so good
ill know soon

the organicgreen doctor