Potatoes are an easy to grow tubular that requires a little attention and can be grown in a small area. Many claim the harvest over 100 pound of potatoes from a 4 square foot gardening area. All the care required is to add soil to the mound as the plant grows.

First off you need garden seed potatoes. These are potatoes you’ve seen in your kitchen that have sprouted shoots. Individual potatoes that are sold at grocery stores sometimes have growth inhibitors sprayed on them, but bagged potatoes that you see sprout are good seed potato candidates.

A week or two before you plant your potatoes you’ll want to sprout your seedlings. Put them in a warm location with 60 to 70 degree heat and in the sunlight to accelerate the sprouting process.

Prepare you potatoes the day before by cutting them into golf ball size portions with each cube having at least 2 eyes. You’ll want to keep them exposed to the air overnight which hastens a callous covering the cut part. This callus prevent the seed potato from rotting in the garden.

Potatoes need full sun and loose, well-drained soil. If your soil is full of clay make sure to add compost and lots of peat moss so the vines can grow easily. Make sure they get about an inch of water a week.

One can use build a potato box or automobile tires as a garden accessory and plant place 6 seed potatoes inside filling the tire or container half way with soil. When the vines grow about 6 inches high place another tire on top or add boards to your container and cover the vines half way with soil. Keep adding soil and tires until you reach the desired height. Tires can be stacked 4 to 8 levels high.

Potatoes begin sprouting in a few weeks and when the plant gets 2 or more inches in height, add some soil to partially cover the plant. Hilling the plant will cause more of the tubular to spread and produce even more garden potatoes. Add a few inches of soil to your potato mound every few weeks.

Harvest carefully, by hand or with a shovel. Generally, you can harvest from 2 to 4 months after planting. Turn the soil over and search through for potatoes at the bottom of the mound. The tubers can branch out and gentle digging at the bottom layer of your container will yield a potato or two. You can harvest the entire crop when the tops die off. All the sprays and fertilizers to grow healthy potatoes: Gardening Accessories