How to Plant Potatoes

Spring is here and it’s time for spring cleaning and gardening! Here’s an easy tutorial for How to Plant Potatoes and Simple Gardening Tips for Spring! Plus, here are some of my other favorite Gardening Tips!

Planting potatoes is one of my favorite things to do in the spring. I love planting potatoes and watching them grow! Maybe it’s because they go through so many stages and you get to watch in anticipation of what is to come. Planting potatoes reminds me a lot about life. You plant the seeds, water them, watch them sprout, hill up the dirt so that the potatoes have room to grow, and then harvest the crop. Working in the garden and seeing produce spout from seeds is a great reminder to me that sometimes we have to dig deep and life and plant the seeds of hard work. We see tiny sprouts grow from the hard work, but we must continue to dig in and hill up the spouts so that even more can grow. We have to put in the work, remain faithful to the task, and get our hands dirty before we can see the fruit of our labor. Sometimes pressing in and “hilling up” in life isn’t fun, but if we press on and push forward we can see something grow out of a small seed. The harvest is worth it, but sometimes we have to get our hands dirty.

Planting potatoes is not always easy (and it can get really messy). But what’s life if you don’t get your hands dirty every now and then. I love being in my garden and getting my hands dirty. There is just something about being outside, no computers, no cell phones, and just the sounds of the spring and summer around you. It’s super relaxing and one of my favorite hobbies. Plus, with these Cottonelle® Fresh Care* Flushable Cleansing Cloths it makes cleaning up super easy after digging in and getting messy!

1. Get Seed Potatoes

Mid March – April is the best time to plant potatoes where I am. I picked up seed potatoes at my local Farmers Co-op! Seed potatoes are ready to plant because they have lots of eyes on them.

2. Cut Seed Potatoes in fourths

I cut my seed potatoes in fourths. You don’t have to cut them in fourths, but you do need to be sure there are at least two eyes per potato that you plant. Cut your seed potatoes 1-2 days before you plant them so that they grow a protective layer.

3. Dig a Trench in the Dirt

Dig your trench in the dirt about 4″ deep. I like to plant my potatoes in a straight line, but you can spread them out over your garden if you would rather.

4. Place Seed Potatoes in Dirt Eyes Up

Place your seed potatoes in the dirt about 1 food apart. That way the potatoes have enough room to grow underground.

5. Cover with Dirt

Fill in the trench with loose dirt and cover the seed potatoes.

6. Hill Up & Water Potatoes

Once tubers start to form, be sure to water regularly. You will want to hill up your potatoes when the plant is about 6″ tall. Hoe the dirt up around the base of the plant to cover the root as well as support the plant. The plants will get pretty large, so you will want to continue hilling up the dirt as they grow and before they bloom. This is to help keep the potatoes from getting sunburned. If your potatoes get sunburned they will turn green and taste bitter. I like to hill up my potatoes with my hands, but you can use a hoe if you want to :).

7. Harvest Potatoes

When it comes time to harvest your potatoes (this is normally early July or 10 weeks after planting), you should harvest on a dry day. You can always dig up one potato plant to see how your potatoes are growing.

Potato Tips:

Store potatoes in a cool, dry, dark place.

Do not wash potatoes until you are ready to eat them.

Do not store potatoes with Apples because it will cause potatoes to spoil.

I love watching the different stages of planting potatoes. They change so much over the 10 weeks and are fun to hill up as they grow! I sure do enjoy watching my potatoes go from seed to potato.. Plus, it is amazing to see how many potatoes you get from a few seed potatoes!

Besides some good gardening tools and seed potatoes, these Cottonelle® Fresh Care* Flushable Cleansing Cloths come in handy when working in the garden! I’m always wanting to take pictures or use my phone to get a great shot when my hands are dirty! These cleansing cloths are easy to use and keep close for when I need a quick clean up while gardening!

Besides working in the garden, another one of my favorite hobbies this time of year is bike riding! Biking the trails around my town is a great way to be healthy and get in shape. Long bike rides are another way that I like to wind-down after a long week of work. My boyfriend and I like to pack a snack and hit the trails.

We are both trying to save money right now, and we have found that buying snacks at Sam’s Club is an easy way to save money. We can buy a big bag of Beef Jerky and some tiny oranges and pack our own snack bags and save some for later.

I will even freeze some of the beef jerky that we don’t eat so that we have another snack for later. This is a great way to save time and money!

You can also pick up the Cottonelle® Fresh Care* Flushable Cleansing Cloths at Sam’s Club. I am loving the new Member-Voted Design packs exclusive to Sam’s Club! There are 11 smaller packages that are the perfect size for on-the-go. I will throw a package of these into my backpack for when we stop to have our snack! I like to get dirty, but when it comes time to eating I need to get my hands clean! These are a super easy and convenient way to get clean on the trails! Plus, since they come in super cute smaller packages they are easy to pack and the perfect addition to my backpack!

Cottonelle® Fresh Care* Flushable Cleansing Cloths are great for so many different things. I can use them in my garden after planting my potatoes, but I can also take them on the trails to use before a snack! You can also keep them in your bathroom, purse, or diaper bag! Always keep them on hand in a convenient spot no matter what your hobbies and go-to activities are (even if it’s the busy life of a mom)! These wipes are flushable and break up after flushing. They are sewer and septic-safe. I think it’s great that they are alcohol-free and have a OneTouch dispensing tub. Perfect for the entire family (no matter how big, or small the mess)!

Did you know that there is also a Sam’s Club Pick-Up Service and a Sam’s Club Subscription Service? If you are busy and on-the-go like me, these can be a huge benefit to being a Sam’s Club member!