How To: Harvest Potatoes
HARVESTING
POTATOES
FOR SUMMER
“Digging potatoes out of your garden is pure magic” - Everyone at Edible Earth
When should you harvest potatoes?
For summer harvest you’ll be looking for a full and leafy potato plant, and depending on your variety you’ll know when the late-cropping varieties are ready to harvest once they have flowered and the flowers are beginning to die off. If your potatoes are an early cropping variety they’ll be ready to harvest when the flowers are fully opened, approximately 3 months after planting. It always pays to mark your potato crops with their variety so you can keep this in mind when harvesting.
In summary:
Early potato varieties are ready to harvest when the flowers are fully opened, approximately three months after planting.
Main and late cropping varieties are ready when the flowers have bloomed and are then beginning to die off again.
‘Tickle’ them by carefully wriggling your fingers around in the soil to feel for potatoes.
Harvest can be any time from 60-90 days depending on the variety.
How do you harvest potatoes?
Once you know when to harvest the question becomes how you get them out of the ground. If you’re confident it’s harvest time, then the first thing you do is give your potatoes a little ‘tickle’ - that means, gently feel around in the soil under the stalk of the plant to check whether you have any decent-sized potatoes in there. Be careful when doing this so you don’t ruin the roots of the plants.
If you’ve found some decent sized potatoes you can simply harvest what you need as you need it through the summer months. If you do harvest more than you need be sure to store them in a cool dark place, ideally in a paper bag.
Harvest using a garden fork, and make sure you dig deep and dig away so you don’t spear the potatoes, as the soil sifts through the fork the potatoes pop out.
If you find some green potatoes amongst your crop, they’re no good! Pop them back in your compost alongside the rest of the potato plants as you harvest.
In summary:
Have a ‘tickle’ to check they’re mature.
Use a fork to harvest your potatoes if they’re ready, harvest as you need them throughout summer.
If they’ve been exposed to the sunlight and they’re green - don’t eat them. Remember potatoes like to be covered in a lot of soil.
Once harvested you can eat them straight away.
If you’re storing potatoes, keep them in a cool place, we’d recommend storing them in a brown paper bag.
What do you need for harvesting?
If you’ve had a tickle and they’re ready, you’ll need a garden fork to harvest them, as well as something to carry them back into your kitchen. We love to get our hands into the soil, but if you’re not that way inclined you might like a pair of gloves!
Happy potato harvesting!
