Potato Plants Sneak in as an Ornamental Plant for Yards– a bit of “Acorn” news

by Ruth VanBogelen, Acorn Farmers’ Market & Cafe

Last year I visited a friend’s house and in her yard she had a beautiful flowering plant between her house and the driveway for everyone to see. It was gorgeous! The plant looked like a potato plant. I asked her what flower plant looks like potato plants. She responded it was a potato plant. She said she does it every year and then as fall approaches, there are potatoes to harvest.

Last week two different people told me they had purchased potato bags and planted potatoes in their yard. Well, why not? Planting vegetables for landscaping isn’t new – in fact there are experts (and books for the novice) in edible landscaping. Potatoes are a great way to explore this option in your own yard. It is not too late to start potatoes.

You might know that potatoes are their own seed. Yep – all those pesky “eyes” on the potatoes in your kitchen are trying to grow into a plant. But wait – make it really fun and buy some seed potatoes – purple ones! There are also white, yellow (Yukon) and red potatoes –

How to grow potatoes. Two methods.

• Large harvest method. Use a large pot or get a potato bag (make sure there are drainage holes), put about 4-6 inches of soil in the bottom. Cut the seed potatoes so there is at least one “eye” per piece and put then on top of the soil. Add another 4-6 inches of soil. Keep the soil moist – not too wet. The plants will start growing within a week. As they grow keep adding more soil, keeping 4-6 inches of plant about the soil. The stem of the plant that gets buried turns into roots to produce more potatoes

• Smaller harvest method. Same as above but fill the pot or bag with soil and plant the seed potatoes about 2-4 inches into the soil. The roots will spread throughout the pot and produce probably about 10 new potatoes.

Acorn Farmers’ Market & Café will be a non-profit food store in Manchester, next spring. The address will be 327 W. Main. Look at the plants in front of the building to see the example of potato planting method 1 above. Guess how many potatoes will be harvested – email 48158food@gmail.com.

To follow progress on this new food store which will sell locally grown produce, meat, dairy, eggs and more – all produced by local farmers – go to the web site www.acornfarmersmarketcafe.org and like us on Facebook @Acorn Farmers’ Market and Café.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.