Potato-Growing Supplies

Seed Potatoes

• You will need certified seed potatoes, the spuds that propagate potato growth. Garden centers, nurseries and online retailers sell numerous types of seed potatoes, including varieties that aren't typically sold in stores. Though you can use a store-bought potato as your seed, these tubers may be treated with chemicals that prevent sprouting. Keep seed potatoes chilled and expose them to sunlight about a week before planting them.

Tools

• You'll need a sharp knife to cut your seed potato into 1- to 2-inch squares and a spade to plant the seeds, turn the soil and harvest the potatoes. A spading fork also works for harvesting. Wear gloves to protect your hands when planting, harvesting and weeding. Use a ventilated plastic tent to protect young potatoes from frost, but be sure to remove the tent on sunny days. Potatoes need a lot of water, especially during the summer season, so you'll need a hose, a sprinkler system or a watering can.

Soil

• Potatoes need loose, well-drained soil with a slightly acidic pH of about 5.8 to 6.5. Alluvial, sandy, clay, loam and silt soils work. If you want to grow potatoes for the long term, you will need three soil sites as potatoes should be rotated on a three-year cycle. For the "Stout" method of potato growing -- named for gardener Ruth Stout -- simply place seed potato pieces on the ground or in shallow sod and cover them with a 1- to 2-inch layer of straw, mulch or leaves. For in-ground or Stout growing, organic fertilizer such as fish meal helps improve soil fertility when growing potatoes.

Considerations

• Supplies aren't the only thing you will need to successfully grow potatoes. Plant potatoes no earlier than two weeks prior to the last freeze of the winter season. Very early spring planting is preferable. Potatoes grow best under full sun in cool or moderate temperatures and may die in temperatures above 95 degree Fahrenheit.