How to Harvest & Store Potatoes

Series Summary

Growing vegetables in a personal vegetable garden is a rewarding hobby for many reasons, not the least of which is the harvest. Knowing what type of vegetable to plant, where to plant it and how to cultivate and harvest it can be difficult. However, growing a vegetable garden can be very easy with harvesting tips and advice from a farmer or specialist. In this free video series, an organic fruit and vegetable farmer provides advice for harvesting and growing fruits, vegetables and a few herbs. Find out how to harvest and store potatoes, carrots, lettuce, peppers, basil and oregano. Learn about growing beets, broccoli, chili peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, lettuce, okra, onions and more. Start a fruit and vegetable garden today with these farming tips.

Video Transcript

"Did you know that potatoes are the largest food crop grown in the world other than grains? Hi, I'm Jarrett from Stone Soup Farm, and this is how to harvest and store potatoes. Potato plants are very fast growing, and they'll grow mostly in the spring and during the middle of the summer, and then they kind of peter out and they die back real quick, the plant part above ground, leaving the potatoes below ground. We're here at the field in a harvest stage. You can see that these plants are almost completely dead now. They have gone through their cycle, but the potatoes are still under there. So, to get em' out we'll take a shovel. We're going to place them far enough away from the plant so that we're not going to risk too much damaging the potatoes themselves. And try to get real deep under there, sort of lift it up, and then pull through. Then, you'll find the potatoes under there. Once you have the potatoes it's important to be relatively gentle with them. You don't want to be throwin' them around or scarring up the outside, because any breaks in the skin can cause infections in the potato that would lead to rot later on. Potatoes would appreciate the most being stored in a cool, dry area; not too cold, but not too warm either and if undamaged and in the proper conditions they should store for about two to four months, depending on the variety. At that point they'll start to sprout, and even after they've sprouted you can still eat them but you should take the sprouts off. Otherwise, you can can or refrigerate them, but be careful with refrigerating them, because as soon as you take them out they're going to start to rot relatively quickly. So, I'm Jarrett from Stone Soup Farm, and that's how to harvest and store potatoes."