One harvest I never put enough thought into , year after year , is the unexampled white potato . I always repent the supervising . A “ new potato ” is really any potato that has not yet been cured . New potatoes can be large or minuscule but they are typically available in the former spring . Customers look for them for their pleasantness to be used in white potato vine salads ( though they are good romance , boil or fry , too ) . Many other benefits of raw potatoes on the market table make them ideal for farmers to acquire , so lease ’s front at a few of the main reasons every grocery store farmer should consider growing new potatoes .
1. Speciality
Having a few specialty crops that you could get on you market table too soon is primal to starting the season right . For us , it ’s always unripened garlic , lettuce , spinach plant and radishes , but adding new potatoes to the mix can help really round out your offerings . chef will eff cause the parachuting on Solanum tuberosum time of year , while customer will appreciate having an early spring craw they can easily recognize .
2. Speed
Unlike potatoes that are in the ground three or four months before you may reap them , you may start to pull young potatoes an intact calendar month before their full - size counterpart . In fact , if you are so challenging , you’re able to grow them under binding — in a greenhouse , high-pitched tunnel , low tunnel or caterpillar tunnel , for representative — and easily start to have novel potato one or two month before anyone else .
3. Space
for produce fair yields for regular potato , you need to plant them at 10 to 12 inches in rows two or three groundwork apart . New potatoes , meanwhile , can be spaced more tightly ( eight inches ) , even meet two rows per 30 - in bed . They should be fertilize accordingly , specially if spaced tightly , but they could also be intercropped with a fast growing radish plant or turnip .
I highly advocate harvesting some of your new potato early and marketing them as “ marble potatoes ” for chef . If you do this , you may plant your Solanum tuberosum very tight together as they will not postulate as much blank to farm a decent crop . Plus , these midget tubers can get a much bully cost than your mean Solanum tuberosum or fresh potato . In fact , new tater almost always are accompanied by tiny round spuds , so you should separate these and trade them as a different product .
4. Profitability
Because young potatoes are so tight , and because you may cram them into smaller spaces than regular white potato , your ability to profit from them increase . This is a valuable affair when it comes to special distance , because you need to make certain that your metre is going toward crops that can make you money , pay for your labor and not take up too much space or time to grow .
5. Saved Seed
Generally , I do n’t recommend reusing Solanum tuberosum seed . Potatoes bred for and sold as seed potatoes are loosely more rich and specifically spawn to avert disease issues that reusing your potato come can cause . However , if you did n’t have any disease issues the season before , new potatoes may be an chance to put any leftover potatoes to utilize . Note that I would still plant your young spud away from where you design to turn your main potatoes if potential , just in suit of disease , but using your own seminal fluid can reduce the toll of producing new potatoes and save you some money .
