Gardenof Learning

Gardenof Learning

Planting Potatoes

Activity:This is a three part lesson, where we plant, harvest and taste the potatoes.

Goal:To teach our students about planting and caring for potatoes. The students will also learn the importance of growing our own food.

Supplies:Potatoes

Cooking supplies

Part I (January 16-20)

Preparing to Plant

Supplies needed: 10 small potatoes. Discuss with the kids how potatoes sprout from the eyes and then leave the potatoes in a warm location to begin sprouting. Give the Children background on the potato (see info below).

Part II (February 16-20)

Planting

Supplies needed: compost, sprouted potatoes. Plant the potatoes. Begin by having students dig over soil and amend with compost. The location of the compost will be posted on the white board in the shed. Then plant rows or hills as indicated below.

Potatoes in the HomeGarden

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Traditionally potatoes are grown in rows. The potato are planted every 15 in., with the rows spaced 2 1/2 to 3 ft. apart. If space is limited or if you would only like to grow a small crop of potatoes, you may prefer to plant one or two potato mounds. Each 3-4 foot diameter mound can support 6 to 8 potato plants. With either method, the first step is to cultivate and turn the soil one last time before planting, removing any weeds, rocks or debris. This will loosen the soil and allow the plants to become established more quickly. Your potato plants will benefit from the addition of compost. HOWEVER, too much organic material can increase the chances of potato scab. (Potato scab is a bacterial infection which doesn't affect the usability of your potatoes, but it makes them look pretty ugly!) To lessen the likelihood of this, mix the organic matter into the soil below the potato seed, where it will feed the roots, but not contact the newly forming potatoes.

Planting in rows

Dig a shallow trench about 4 inches wide and 6-8 inches deep. The spacing at which you place potatoes will determine the harvested potato size. For most household uses, you will want to plant your potato 15 inches apart in this trench. If you'd like a quick crop of "baby" potatoes for soups and stews, you can plantpotatoes 4 inches apart, and begin harvesting them as soon as they reach the desired size.

Place the potato into the trench and then cover them with 3-4 inches of soil. (Do not fill the trench in completely!) Depending on the soil temperature, the sprouts will begin to emerge in about 2 weeks. At this time add another 3-4 inches of soil.

Part II 1/2

Earthing Up (during soil lesson March 20-24))

Supplies needed: potting soil.

During our soil lesson classes can do a bit of earthing up. We did this only once since we harvested the potatoes when they were small.

Your crop of potatoes will form between the seed piece and the surface of the soil. For this reason, when the stems are about 8 inches high, you once again add enough soil to bring the level half way up the stem of the plant. Another hilling or "earthing up" will be needed 2-3 weeks later, at which time you again add soil half way up the stem of he plant. After these initial hillings, it is only necessary to add an inch or two of soil to the hill each week or so, to ensure there is enough soil above the forming potatoes that they don't push out of the hill and get exposed to light. (If the new potatoes are exposed to sunlight while they are developing, they will turn green. This green portion may be toxic!)

This hilling process is necessary to create sufficient space for the potatoes to develop large tubers, and an abundant crop. Don't get carried away with hilling though... If you cover up too much of the foliage, you may end up reducing your final crop yield.

Part III

Harvesting (May 15-19)

The garden parent first loosens the plant and give the kids an opportunity to see how the potatoes grow. Then the kids use trowels to dig around in the dirt and find other potatoes.

Your may begin to harvest your potatoes 2 to 3-weeks after the plants have finished flowering. At this time you will only find small "baby" potatoes if you were to dig up a plant. Potatoes can be harvested any time after this, by gently loosening the soil, reaching under the plant, and removing the largest tubers, leaving the smaller ones to continue growing.

Cooking

To cook the potatoes, we had a large pot of boiling water going on the stove in the MPR kitchen. Potatoes dug by the first group were washed at the hose in the Edibles Garden and taken to the pot to cook while the next group was digging. Potatoes cooked about 15 minutes in the already boiling water until tender. Add salt and butter and allow the potatoes to cool for 10-15 minutes before serving them to the whole class at the same time in the classroom. Supplies needed were: pot, slotted spoon, colander, serving bowl, butter, salt, paper bowls and napkins.

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Potato Background

Potato, edible starchy tuber. It is produced by certain plants of a genus of the nightshade family, especially the common white potato. The name is also applied to the plants. The white-potato tuber is a food staple in most countries of the temperate regions of the world. The plant is grown as an annual herb. The stem attains a length of up to almost 1 m (almost 3 ft), erect or prostrate, with pointed leaves and white to purple flowers. The fruit is a many-seeded berry about the size of a cherry. Like the stems and the foliage, the fruit contains significant amounts of solanin, a poisonous alkaloid characteristic of the genus. The plant, native to the Peruvian Andes, was brought to Europe in the 16th century by Spanish explorers. The cultivation of the potato spread rapidly, especially in the temperate regions, and early in the 18th century the plant was introduced into North America. The earliest authentic record of its cultivation there was dated 1719, at Londonderry, New Hampshire. Production in the United States at the beginning of the 21st century involved a harvest of 526,000 hectares (about 1.3 million acres), yielding about 20.9 million metric tons of potatoes annually. The states producing the most potatoes are Idaho and Washington. The early crop is produced by California and the Gulf states; as the season advances, the harvest moves to the states of the Great Plains, the Pacific Northwest, and the Northeast.

In ordinary cultivation, propagation is accomplished by planting the tuber or a section of the tuber containing an eye, which is an undeveloped bud. New varieties are developed from seed produced after controlled pollination. Improved varieties may be propagated rapidly by using cuttings from the sprouts. Rich, sandy loams are most suitable for producing the light, mealy types favored by American and British taste; heavy, moist soils produce the firm type preferred by Europeans. Named varieties popular in the United States include Rose, Idaho, Cobbler, Early Ohio, Green Mountain, Hebron, Rural, and Burbank. Freshly dug potatoes contain 78 percent water, 18 percent starch, 2.2 percent protein, 1 percent ash, and 0.1 percent fat. About 75 percent of the dry weight is carbohydrate. The potato is an important source of starch for the manufacture of adhesives and alcohol.

The most important disease of the potato is late blight, caused by a fungus that rots leaves, stems, and tubers. The early blight, caused by a different fungus, is not so destructive but causes lesions that permit entry of the various forms of bacterial rot. Several forms of mosaic disease and leaf curl are caused by infection with viruses. The Colorado potato beetle is the most destructive of the insect pests; others include the potato leafhopper, the potato flea beetle, and species of aphids and psyllids. .

Scientific classification: Potatoes are produced by plants of the genus Solanum, of the family Solanaceae. The common white potato is classified as Solanum tuberosum.