St. Patrick’s Day Potatoes with Patty O’Pot

Patty O’Pot is here just in time! Smart Pots, St. Patty’s Day, and planting potatoes are a proven combination that yields great rewards in just a matter of weeks. Ireland, with its mild winters, peat rich soil, and generous rainfall has a centuries long tradition of potato farming.  Early spring is the time for home gardeners to start their own home-grown, tender new potatoes. Kick off your spring gardening season and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by getting your potatoes started in a Smart Pot!

Choosing three favorite varieties of certified seed potatoes ensures the best possible start and extends the Smart Pot potato growing season. Each variety has a slightly different maturation time. So over a period of several weeks fresh, delicate potatoes will be ready to harvest and enjoy. Your local garden center will have great choices! Red Pontiac, Yukon Gold, Fingerlings, and Purple Potatoes are all popular choices for Smart Pot growing with maturation times ranging from 80-120 days.

Patty O’Pot is ready to help with three easy steps to our St. Pat’s potato planting success: Smart Pot, Soil, and Spuds.

   3 Easy Steps

Smart Pot – #15 Forest Green Smart Pot with handles for easy planting and harvest

Soil – a 50/50 mixture of quality planting mix and peat moss replicates the rich Irish farm land

Spuds – small certified seed potatoes, one variety per pot

Each Smart Pot should be planted with a single potato variety so it will be ready to harvest all at once. Planting multiple Smart Pots with different types of potatoes will reward you with multiple harvests over the course of the growing season. Choosing small seed potatoes will allow you to simplify by planting the entire spud without the need to cut them into sections.

Fill your Smart Pot half full and put the seed potatoes in spacing them evenly apart. Finish filling with soil and water slowly, allowing water to seep into the soil gradually until moist throughout. Put in a sunny spot and keep evenly moist, but do not overwater. Peat moss and Smart Pots will provide great drainage and aeration to help avoid wet, soggy soils that can cause potatoes to rot. Before too long, dark green leaves will begin to peek through the soil.

Mark each Smart Pot with the variety you’ve chosen to plant, and the typical number of days until maturation. When you’re ready to harvest, the Smart Pot handles make it easy to simply dump out the contents and pick out your spuds! Both the soil and the Smart Pot can be reused for future plantings.  Simply dust off the Smart Pot and add some nutrients to the soil for next time.