When to plant potatoes
Potato is a tasty and very common vegetable that is grown in all gardens of our country. Potatoes are used as food in boiled, fried, baked form. But before you get a crop, you need to spend a lot of time and effort on planting, processing, protecting potatoes from pests, and then digging them up.
planting material
To get a rich harvest, you need to plant high-quality potatoes and start harvesting planting material in the fall. Autumn for the selection of seed potatoes is the most successful period. Potato planting material should be taken from the bushes that gave the best yield. The size of tubers for planting material should be at least 4-5 centimeters. Experienced gardeners advise: the larger the planting potato tubers, the earlier they will ripen, and the yield from each bush will be higher. 
Some gardeners germinate potatoes before planting in warm and dark rooms, or plant sprouted cut potatoes (they need to be dried and the cuts sprinkled with wood ash). Yes, this can be done if the weather is warm and humid, but if frost hits after the early shoots of the potato, or the weather is rainy and cold, then there is a high probability that the cut potatoes will rot without sprouting, and the early shoots of sprouted potatoes will freeze from frost.
Sandy and light, medium loamy soils are considered the best soil for growing potatoes. On acidic soils, potatoes are most susceptible to pests and diseases. For a rich potato crop, soils with a lot of nutrients are needed, and it is also necessary to observe the annual alternation of garden crops and part-time in the garden.
Start preparing the soil for planting potatoes next year should be in the fall. Before digging, fertilizers are applied: 13 g / m2 of ammonium nitrate, 15 g / m2 of double granulated superphosphate. In the spring, before planting potatoes, you need to apply organic fertilizers, rotted manure or compost and dig or plow the soil. It is impossible to oversaturate the soil with nitrogen fertilizers or manure, the result of this is coarse tops, low yields, and the accumulation of nitrates in potatoes.
You can also apply fertilizer during planting potatoes. During planting, you can make a separate hole for each tuber and fill it with fertilizer, wood ash and humus, and only after that put potatoes there. After laying the tubers, the holes are covered with earth, leveling it with a rake.
Note! You will never get a good potato harvest in shady places, under trees, on damp lands, on heavy clay soils. 
How to plant a potato
Potatoes should be planted in spring, when the soil temperature at a depth of 10 cm will be +6 - +8 ° C. Potatoes should be planted at a depth of 8-10 cm, while the beds should be located from north to south, according to the planting pattern - 80 cm between rows and 35 cm between tubers in a row (80X35). You can plant potatoes even thicker according to the 60 × 60 cm scheme, however, in this case, the stems will interfere with each other's growth.
Densely planted plants are not blown enough, which increases the likelihood of late blight. The best option for planting potato tubers is 90 cm between rows. In this case, hilling is easier, and the tops contribute to a greater yield.
Note! The larger the planting material, the less often you need to plant potato tubers.
Whatever planting scheme you choose, you need to plant potato tubers at the same depth, plant in even rows, leaving a layer of loose soil under the tubers. All this contributes to the creation of an optimal regime for the growth and development of the plant. 
potato care
Potato care consists in weeding, hilling and protection from pests (Colorado potato beetle) and diseases (phytophthora). Hilling potatoes is necessary when the aerial part grows to 10 cm.
When to Harvest Potatoes
Harvesting potatoes is the final step in growing potatoes. From the end of July, you can start collecting potatoes for storage. For different varieties of potatoes, different harvesting times are used, depending on the maturity of the tubers. Early varieties ripen in 55-65 days, mid-early varieties in 65-80 days, mid-ripening varieties in 80-100 days, medium late in 100-110, and late in more than 110 days, so you can approximately calculate the timing of potato harvesting . In a plot with early varieties of potatoes, they usually dig it up for storage until August 1. Mid-season varieties are dug up until August 10, and late varieties - in September. 
How to dig and harvest potatoes
Before digging up potatoes, dry and flabby tops are mowed 2 weeks before harvest. Then the tubers of potatoes are dug up for storage. The tops affected by phytophthora are burned.
Potatoes are dug up and harvested in dry weather, and potato tubers are aired in the dim sun. If the weather is damp, the tubers are dried under a canopy. It is better to dig potatoes with a pitchfork, because damage to the tubers will be minor. If a rainy period is expected, the potatoes are dug up without waiting for the tops to dry completely. As a rule, after the August rains, the possibility of damage to potato tubers by late blight increases. Such potato tubers are poorly stored and rot. Therefore, the shortfall in the harvest in the case of earlier digging of potatoes is compensated by better storage. 
Potato storage
Dug out potatoes are kept in a dark place at a temperature of +15 ° C for two to four weeks. Damaged during harvesting and transportation, tubers heal easily at this time. After that, the potatoes are sorted out, diseased tubers are selected and put into storage. During this period, tubers are not touched unnecessarily. Potatoes are stored in ventilated cellars in mesh bags or in bulk at a temperature of + 2- +4 ° C and a relative humidity of 92-95%. Under favorable conditions, potatoes can be stored for up to 9 months.
