Nothing Better Than Organic Seed Potatoes From:
Stargazer Perennials Farm and Nursery! It is the “go to” place for the best non-GMO certified organic seed potatoes. Their nursery is re-certified every year to be virus free and pest free by the Department of Agriculture. They rely on their bees, butterflies, and birds to help them keep a pesticide free plant growing environment using organic and chemical free resources.
They most definitely deserve 5 thumbs up, at least for their seed potatoes!
Each pound of seed potatoes will plant 10 feet of row space and produce 10 pounds of potatoes. Thus, if you plant 5 pounds of seed potatoes, you should yield 50 pounds of potato harvest as long as you keep the plants watered well and maintain the correct soil nutrient density by side dressing with a standard 10-10-10 fertilizer every couple of weeks. In a good year, harvest yield will be even more enhanced approaching upwards of a 15:1 ratio.
You will find detailed tater growing tips and tricks on the growing potatoes page.
My seed potato order this year included the following varieties…
Yukon Gold
This is a best seller and my favorite for making potato chips. Yukon Gold potatoes have a smooth thin yellow skin and a mouth watering sweet golden yellow flesh. They are also great for making potato salad and French fries but, the flesh is a little too wet to make mashed potatoes. Even though these potatoes can tolerate periods of drought, you still want to water them an inch or two a week to produce the best and tastiest harvest.
Red Pontiac
These red potatoes are my first choice for making potato salad and mashed potatoes and, my second choice, after Yukon Gold, for making potato chips. Red Pontiac potatoes are covered with a thin, deep red skin and, on the inside, the flesh is crisp and white. This is truly a very versatile potato! They are incredibly tolerant of hot summers but, it is still wise to hill them every couple of weeks to keep them as cool as possible.
BURBANK RUSSET
This is the most widely grown potato in the U.S.A. today due to extremely high yields and strong disease resistance, as well as an extraordinarily long storage life. Crunchy white flesh is concealed under a smooth russet (reddish-brown) skin. This is a very versatile potato that can be used for any culinary delight and it is my absolute favorite for potato skins topped with bacon and cheddar cheese or baked potatoes heaped with generous amounts of butter, sour cream, and chives!
These are 3 top quality certified potato seed additions to help you achieve success with your potato growing endeavors! Stargazer Perennials only produces the best quality and fastest growing packages. You will not be disappointed.
Comment below or email me, jim@perfect-vegetable-garden.com, with any interesting potato questions or thoughts.
Planting 5 pounds of seed and getting 50 pounds in return is amazing! What a high ROI! I planted red potatoes in my backyard a couple years ago, and I wasn’t that great with watering, but they still grew! They are not really difficult to grow even for people like me who don’t have a green thumb. The thing I did wrong is I let them virally take over my yard. Now, that I’ve gotten them under control, I’d like to give it a try again, but maybe in containers. I wanted to ask you, do you think you can get the same yield thru container gardening?
You are quite right, Tiffany. Taters are very easy to grow!
Some of my gardening acquaintances grow their potatoes in containers. Here’s how…
Each seed potato needs about 2.5 gallons of space which means you can put 2 of them in a 5 gallon bucket. Don’t add anymore because you will end up with smaller potatoes.
Make sure there are some holes in the bottom of the bucket for drainage. Place some gravel in the bottom to help with drainage.
Add about 4 inches of Jim’s 50/50 mixture explained in my growing potatoes article. Don’t forget to include several tablespoons of 10-10-10 fertilizer in the mixture.
Put in 2 seed potatoes, spaced evenly, with sprouts pointing up.
Cover the spuds with another 4 inches of 50/50 mixture.
Water well and don’t let the soil dry out. Using a simple, inexpensive moisture checker like Wormie The Water Sensor will alert you when it is time to add water.
As the new potatoes form and grow, continually add 50/50 mixture to keep them covered.
Then just follow the harvesting information in the growing potatoes article.
You will have great success and enjoy a phenomenal potato harvest! Check back with me and let me know how your container garden is growing.
Jim
Starting the container potatoes is more of a long term goal for me. I’ll probably start it after my time is not so dedicated to my business startup, but you are truly amazing at gardening! I hope more people get to experience your passion here and can get awesome gardening results because of what you’re doing! Thanks so much.
You’re welcome, Tiffany!
Let me know when you start your container potatoes. I’ll be interested in hearing how they are growing.
Once you get it started, the “touch time” needed is very minimal.
Take care,
Jim