Planting Potatoes

Potatoes are wonderful plants.  They can grow in sandy soil and produce prolifically under bad conditions.  They contain most of the needed vitamins and minerals as well as a large amount of calories for the effort and space needed to grow them.  They make for a great staple particularly in areas with poor soil and where most of the area is used for cash crops.  The world produces 374.4 tons of potatoes a year (as of 2011). 

Potatoes were first domesticated in Peru around 8000-5000 BC, and were a staple crop for much of the region.  When they were brought to Europe they, like tomatoes were treated with suspicion, as both are part of the nightshade family.  Most nightshades are poison, in fact the leaves of both of these plants are poisons.  In order to convince people to eat them the King of France had them planted in Versailles gardens and guarded during the day.  Because they were guarded people assumed they were valuable and stole them.  Eventually potatoes did spread throughout Europe, in fact it is estimated that potatoes caused 1/4 of the population growth in Europe between 1700 and 1900.  While the lack of genetic diversity added to the cause of the Potato Famine there is still a significant amount of diversity there are 4000 types of potato.  Most potatoes in the US were bread in Europe. 

Last year we planted 5 and got 15 lbs of potatoes, this year we are planting significantly more

Planting:

Before planting potatoes we cut them so that each piece has two sprouting eyes. 
We are planting 28 russets, 12 Russian fingerlings, 19 North Utah russets, 13 standard white, 28 red potatoes, 12 purple potatoes, and 76 Yukon gold potatoes. 

We then let them dry for 2 days.  Then, while I was at work Peter planted them, in the end we could only fit 106 potatoes.  After the plants come up we will continually add more dirt (not covering the top of the plant) until they flower.  We anticipate that each plant will produce as much as 10 lbs (though not all will become plants).