How To Grow A Potato From A Potato
After my stamping art project with compostable foods, including the potato, I started to wonder… How do you grow a potato from a potato?
I’m a gardener, and I’ve never grown potatoes. Embarrassing to admit, but here we are.
I checked in with fellow Beach 91st Street Community Garden members last Sunday during our second meeting of the season. Kilee and Dan have both grown potatoes from sprouting spuds found right in their kitchens. They confirm it’s totally easy.
Store-bought potatoes (Red Bliss) like this aren’t as disease-resistant as certified seed potatoes since they’re grown for mass production, but they’re free, reusable, and so far, my fellow garden members haven’t had any issues!
Potato Planting Guide:
- Cut the “potato seed”: If the sprouting potato is big and has multiple “eyes” (those sprouty things), cut it into chunks. Each chunk should have at least one or two eyes. Let the cut pieces sit out in a dry spot for 1–2 days so the cut sides scab over. This prevents rotting.
- Plant the chunk: Plant your potato piece about 4 inches deep, eyes facing up. If planting in a pot, start with a few inches of soil, plant the potato, then cover with more soil.
- Water & wait: Keep the soil moist but not soggy. In a week or two, leafy green shoots will emerge!
- Hilling: As the plant grows, keep adding soil to cover the lower stems (called “hilling”). It encourages more tubers to form.
- Harvest time: Once the plant flowers, baby potatoes are forming! For full-sized potatoes, wait until the leaves yellow and die back, usually around 90–120 days. Dig gently, like you’re unearthing an Irish treasure.
In Rockaway (Hardiness Zone 7b), the ideal time to plant potatoes from eyes is between late March and early April, when soil temperatures consistently reach at least 40°F. But my garden friends say it now works too, especially since it’s been unseasonably cold this spring. Mine potatoes will be ready in August.
Another tip I picked up at the garden meeting: the longer you leave the potato in the ground, the bigger it gets. And as Dan said, one of the best things about growing potatoes is that you can harvest them as needed—just dig up what you need for dinner and leave the rest in the ground for later.
Why do potatoes sprout in the house anyway? Because they’re still alive and respond to warmth, darkness, and moisture, which mimics being in the soil. To avoid this, keep them on the counter in a cute decorative bowl, and never in the fridge — cold temps turn their starches into sugar, messing with the taste and texture.
I’ll keep you updated on this potato planting project as it grows—stay tuned!
Have you ever grown potatoes? I’d love to hear about it! Reach out on Instagram @theglorifiedtomato
