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Growing up as a kid in Brooklyn it never dawned on me that potatoes came from anywhere but the Green Grocer or the A & P. It wasn't until I was about 19 and working on a farm that I learned about growing potatoes from an old farmer. He said that even when one bought certified seed potatoes there was no guarantee that one would harvest a good crop, the only guarantee was that they were usually disease free.
There was a trade secret to farming potatoes and the old timers called it "chitting" or greensprouting which is an old English technique for forcing potatoes especially in areas that had short growing seasons such as we had in Northern New York. Chitting allowed the planter to know that the seed piece put into the soil was viable and capable of yielding a crop of potatoes.
What he did was 2 or 4 weeks before planting he spread a single layer of whole seed potatoes on a tray or the bottom of a cut down carton and put them out of direct light in a cool room that stayed about 55° F/13°C. The reason being that it would break dormancy and produce good sturdy green sprouts and when the sprouts were about 1/2" long he said they were ready for planting in the garden.
Just before planting he would cut the seed potatoes into 1 ˝" to 2" cubes making sure each cube had at least one good bud. He told me that the number of buds on each seed potato would determine the size and quantity of his crop. He said one bud would produce a few large potatoes, two buds would produce many medium-sized potatoes, and any cubes with more than 3 buds would produce mostly small potatoes. The French love to produce small potatoes which are called "grelots"
This farmer would plant his potatoes directly into the prepared field or garden. Two years ago I followed his technique and planted mine into a layer of straw and all the plants came up, I kept adding more straw, remembering to water them down when we had a stretch of dry days. I kept doing this until my straw pile was pretty high and no plants kept showing.
The results were good clean potatoes that were not covered with dirt and for some reason, no Colorado potato bugs that generally came on my potatoes whenever I planted them directly into the dirt.
The next time you are intimidated by growing potatoes or think your soil is not the type for potatoes, then seriously consider growing them this way.
There is nothing in the world as good as the taste of potatoes that have just been dug up, washed, boiled and eaten with just plain salt, pepper and butter. No margarine please!
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 Helium article by Arlene Wright-Correll
Resources: Excerpted from “Food For Thought Series” by Arlene Wright-Correll
For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/ and click on Arlene’s Books you can download or buy my gardening & cook books. All my royalties from the sale of my books go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and we thank you for your attention to this site.
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