Its potato planting season in the low desert of Arizona.
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Amazing and fantastic. As I sit at my desk, looking at my computer screen and seeing your potato planting in AZ, then looking out my window to see buckets of snow falling is quite a difference. Short sleeves too??? What a difference and how great. I have two and a half months before my potatoes go in. Wow. What varieties are you planting? Mine are going to be very different this year!
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Great looking potato bed! We plant ours on St Patrickās day most years.
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We are planting Yukon Gold and some other red potato that we bought a bag of from costco. We just buy cheap taters from the grocery. Never had any issue with it. Yep short sleeves. Was 75 here today. First peach bloom has opened and it feels like spring is here.
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Well, that answers that. I was wondering where you obtained seed potatoes so early.
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We only got about eight inches of snow in all (maybe ten) but your pictures make me weep. Iām cominā to visit!
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Wow, thatās really nice just to look at! The soil also looks perfect for potatoes! Arizona is one of my favorite states tooā¦ I have some relatives who live there and it is always a joy to visit them and admire their backyard this time of year!
I also have potatoes growing in Hawaii right nowā¦seeds that I saved from last summerās planting! Theyāre almost done and I can wait! Nothing like a nice home-grown potato! ^^
@mrsg47 What varieties are you going to plant?
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Hi Hydro! Iāll be planting āPurple Vikingā, āGerman Butterballā and āLa Ratteā. The German butterball is my fav.
I forgot an important question; how deep do you dig your trench, and then how much soil do you mound on top of the potato seedlings? thanks!
Itās strange to say, but I planted my potatoes just over a week ago. 
So even though it will be some time before I can plant them outdoors, I started the seeds. This will be the first time Iāve planted them from seed, instead of growing clones by planting potatoes with eyes. Iām not even sure that these are potatoes and not weeds (time will tellā¦). Even if they are, I have no idea if the timing is off- I may be way too earlyā¦There could also be quite a bit of variance in these, since they are open pollinated and I know only the mothers variety.
In the past, Iāve often done some combination of planting a few from the grocery store (Stop & Shop golden organic potatoes from CA are the best Iāve seen of the big chain stores) and orders from specialty places, like The Maine Potato Lady.
The seeds I planted are from Magic Molly (a dark purple potato) and All Blue. Hereās a pic from last summer.
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Thats about a 3-4" furrow i made after working the soil. I just fill it in after we place the cut up taters. Later after they start coming up we will run the tractor back down the row and hill them up a little.
I mentioned this thread and how much Iād like to be planting potatoes outside right now, rather than in little pots. She had no sympathy, but reminded me of the TED video we saw the other day which talked about how Fredrick the Great handled potatoes.
The potato comes up around 3:15 minutes in, but the whole video is a very interesting watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=audakxABYUc
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Thanks. My soil needs work. So Iām doing it right!
One of the important observations ive made as ive grown them over the years is that treating them like most row crops is a poor practice. Amending and enriching soil for potatoes has always made them grow beautiful tops and small potatoes. So these days I plant them in the poorest soil we have and get beautiful nice tubers. The only āworkā I did to that soil was to disk the grass and weeds under so that I had a fresh clean surface.
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Hi Garden Family,
I 'm getting real excited about planting my potatoes. I always plant mine on the last day of February. I plant in 12 inch raised beds. I use aged horse manure, blood and bonemeal for my fertilizer and I always get a good crop. I am growing german butterball, Kennebec, Pontiac and Yukon gold. I have about 20 raised beds because my backyard has red clay and I cannot plant them directly into the ground. I tell you, when I harvest I am like a little girl. I use my hands to get them uo and I use my trowel for backup. It 's fun fun fun-the great treasure hunt! Those potatoes are delicious after curing! The stores cannot compare! Yes, I am getting real excited about planting time!
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Annie, its great isnāt it? It is amazing how many of us have fruit trees (from one fruit tree to commercial orchards) yet we still like to plant our own tomatoes and potatoes and many other fruits and veggies as well. Its a great group! I like seeing the new varieties on this site that everyone has grown. Especially the tomatoes and potatoes! They are beautiful. As a result the comments usually include a taste test. That is important too. Its all great!