Planting potatoes: when you can start

Tell me, when can I plant potatoes? For the second year now, we have been haunted by failure: we can’t guess the timing. Last year, they seemed to be planted two weeks later than usual, but the seedlings still froze.

Most summer residents approach planting potatoes “responsibly-essentially”: in early spring they buy a couple of dozen buckets of seed material and pesticides. It is not surprising, because potatoes often form the basis of the diet, which is why gardeners strive to provide themselves with its supplies for the whole year. But if you can protect the future harvest from using "chemistry", then it is almost impossible to predict the vagaries of nature.

Often all efforts are in vain when you go out to the beds in the morning, and there are frost-bitten bushes that still stood so cheerfully yesterday. Most often, the reason for such a picture is haste - the whole family has gathered for the weekend, and let's quickly throw the tubers into the holes until the helpers run away. And the earth is still cold, and the winter has not yet completely gone and threatens us at night with return frosts ...

To avoid such a fate and save the future harvest, you need to know when you can plant potatoes, because, like most other garden crops, she loves heat and reacts painfully to a night drop in temperature.

Compliance with planting dates is a very important point when growing potatoes, and a “miscalculation” in any direction can not only deprive a tasty and nutritious crop, but also completely destroy plantings:

• if planted early - in cold soil the tubers will “freeze” and will simply lie and wait for heat, but then they will develop extremely reluctantly and the emergence of seedlings will be delayed;
• if planted late, the land will already be “dehydrated”, and in dry soil without additional watering, the crop will be small.

In addition, non-compliance with the planting dates of potatoes often leads to the development of crop diseases, especially fungal ones.

Landing dates depending on weather conditions

1. The soil should warm up to a depth of 10 cm to 8 degrees Celsius or more.
2. At night, the air temperature should not drop much, which means that the frosts have already ended.

There is no single date for planting potatoes, since heat comes at different times in different regions. April-May is considered a generalized planting period, but at the same time, March planting is also allowed in the southern regions in early spring, while in the northern regions it often shifts until early June.

The influence of potato varieties on planting dates

Each has its own growing cycle of development, which should also be taken into account, namely:

• early varieties are planted first, around mid-April;
• mid-season species - in early May;
• late varieties - at the end of May.

People's boarding calendar

Our grandmothers, when planning the opening of the garden season, did not use the weather forecast, but rather trusted the facts that had already happened, verified from their own experience. So, according to folk signs, it is necessary to plant potatoes not earlier than the bird cherry blossoms and dandelions bloom, which is quite consistent with reality and scientific recommendations, because at this time the long-awaited warmth comes. But, nevertheless, if you are going to go for a shovel and a bucket of potatoes, check the weather for the near future to be safe.