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Potatoes need to be planted in cool weather. In Oklahoma, it is suggested to plant them Feb. 15. If the tops get hit by a frost, that's ok. it will grow back. It's what's under the ground that matters. In KC, dad always had potatoes planted on March 17.
It might be!! Check with your extension office. 40 years ago, we got a list of what to plant when for the local area. Good luck with the potatoes. Friends in Texas are now looking into straw gardening.....bales of straw on an old trailer. Just the right height for easy harvesting! Hmmmmm.
I mentioned to my mother that I was looking into container gardening for potatoes, but was wondering if it was too late. She said her father planted his potatoes on the 4th of July so they could harvest them in the fall. She grew up about four hours north of here (about 250 miles), so am thinking I might be okay. One thing that concerns me is the apparent susceptibility of potatoes to pests and disease if they are planted in the same soil continually. Being an urban gardener, I don't have room to continually discard dirt; and being a lazy gardener, I am not inclined to rotate the soil in my garden. Not sure if it was here or another gardening forum, but I was reading about putting a small amount of dirt in the bottom of the container for roots and using straw, or one fellow said he uses compost that is broken down but still a bit large. Either of those sound doable for me because I could put it all in the compost and start fresh each year with a minimum of work. Now I just have to find bulk seed potatoes. Instead of buying one big bag at Lowe's or Home Depot, I'd like to try smaller amounts of several varieties and see which are the most successful for me.
I have planted grocery store potatoes that sprouted in the house and had good luck with them. They would grow even if I threw them in my compost pile. Listen to your mom. Mom knows best!
We do this every year and it works great. By the end of June we can reach under the straw and pick potatoes. Then after the vines die off in the fall we dig them up. We had so many potatoes last year, I ended up canning them.
The straw is great mulch for the next years crop of what ever we put there. We do alternate crops in areas.
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