How To: Planting Potatoes

Gather supplies.

Dig your rows.

Cut up potatoes, being sure to have at least two eyes per chunk.

Add some sulfur to the potatoes...

And shake together in a paper bag.

Cover potato chunks for sulfur.

Add straw to rows (we used sawdust this year as an experiment).

Place potatoes eight to twelve inches apart.

The sawdust gives them some room to grow.

Cover with soil and tamp down.

Planting and gardening are a big part of our Beltane celebration. A few years back, we learned a couple tricks to both keep potatoes from rotting once planted and give them more space to spread out. Here's how we do it these days:

1. Figure out where you want to plant. The area we're using this year is low to mid-traffic, and potatoes are hard to miss. We've grow them here before without killing them.

2. Dig holes or a trench. In our case, we do two parallel rows.

3. Add a layer of straw. This gives the potato eyes a little breathing room to grow. We didn't have straw this year, so we're experimenting with sawdust. (NOTE: Never use walnut sawdust in your garden--it will kill your plants.)

4. Chunk your potatoes with your garden knife. Ensure you have at least two eyes each chunk. This year, our seed potatoes are from a bag of grocery store organic red potatoes. We put them back around Imbolc--they may be a little too old now, but we'll see.

5. Place chunks in a paper bag with sulfur (roughly one tablespoon per red potato). Shake to cover potatoes. This prevents rot.

6. Place chunks in trench eight to twelve inches apart.

7. Cover with dirt, tamp down, and wait.