Potatoes are generally planted in the ground in spring. The exact time depends on the selected variety. If you want to harvest early, start by sowing early potatoes. They can be planted from mid-March.
Mid-early and late potatoes follow from mid-April to mid-May. In this way you can harvest fresh potatoes from your own garden over a long period of time.
Plant new potatoes
Although the first potatoes can be sown as early as March, you have to wait until the weather is frost-free. The temperatures should be at least 8 degrees Celsius. Then your bed in a sunny location is already preheated by the sun's rays.
To protect against late frosts, cover the potatoes with garden fleece or straw. As early as June you can see if the first potatoes are ripe. The early potatoes include the varieties "Christa" and "Leila".
Mid-early and late varieties
Medium-early varieties such as "Agria" and "Cilena" and later varieties such as "Linda" are sown from mid-April to mid-May. You can safely wait for the ice saints. You start harvesting mid-early varieties in August. This is followed by the late varieties until October.
Pre-sprout potatoes
So that the potatoes grow faster and more productively after sowing, they are pre-germinated. This works in a fruit crate that is placed in a bright place with a temperature of about 10 - 15 degrees and takes about two to four weeks.
Prepare the bed
The future potato bed is already deeply dug up in the fall. The clods of earth then remain untouched throughout the winter. In the spring you break up the clods with a cultivator, rake the bed smooth and draw the rows for the potato sowing.
tips and tricks
For all those who garden according to the lunar calendar: when the moon is waning, the forces retreat underground and promote subterranean growth. The first quarter of the waning moon is therefore the best time to plant potatoes. This has not been scientifically confirmed, but it is definitely worth a try.