Lots of discussions here on growing potatoes if you want to browse through them - just search 'grow potatoes'. Meanwhile, check out the links below:

How to Grow Potatoes

How to Grow Potatoes Video

Dave

Here's a summary to get you started growing potatoes:

Potatoes are grown from whole potatoes or pieces of potato called "seed potatoes." Each seed potato must have a least one eye or potential sproutÂtwo or three are better.

Potatoes are a cool-weather crop that require 90 to 120 frost-free days to reach harvest. Planting times vary according to variety. Grow potatoes in the summer in cool-summer regions and in cool northern regions. The ideal potato growing temperature is 60° to 70°F.

"First earlies" are potatoes planted in early spring for harvest in early summer. "Second earlies" and "maincrop" potatoes are planted mid to late spring for harvest from summer onwards.

Plant early potatoes as soon as the soil can be worked in spring or just before the average date of last frost in spring for summer harvest.

Plant crops for fall harvest 120 days before the average date of the first fall frost.

Potatoes grow best in full sun in a sheltered site. Grow potatoes where the summers are cool, but also where cool air and frost cannot gather.

Potatoes prefer a light even sandy deeply loosened soil that is slightly acidic, a pH of 5.0 to 5.6. Add garden compost and well-aged manure to the planting bed two or three months before planting potatoes. Potatoes can be planted in a well-prepared furrow or raised bed if the soil is heavy.

Plant potatoes in 4-to 6- inch-deep V-shaped trenches. Space tubers 12 to 16 inches apart in the trench for early varieties and 24 inches apart for later varieties (later varieties make more top growth). Cover with an inch or so of soil protecting any early shoots or growth. As the foliage grows, cover the foliage with an inch or two of soil leaving just a bit of green foliage visible. Continue this process until the trench is filled and continue until the mounds are 6 to 12 inches tall. This process is known as "hilling" or "earthing up." Space rows of early potatoes 24 inches apart and rows of main crop potatoes 30 inches apart.

Potatoes require regular, even watering throughout the growing season to develop good-sized tubers. Keep the soil evenly moist particularly in the early stages of growth.

Potatoes can be harvested at differing stages of growth. "New potatoes" (small, immature tubers) can be harvested from plants 7 to 8 weeks after planting. Main crop potatoes are harvested from mid-autumn 10 to 14 days after the foliage has withered.

Lift potatoes on a warm day. Lift potatoes carefully from the sides of ridges; use a flat tined fork or a potato lifter with balls on the end of the tines. Allow newly harvested potatoes to dry in the sun for several hours. Never lift more potatoes than you can eat in one or two meals. Store unblemished potatoes in a paper or burlap sacks.

Here is a link that might be useful: HarvestToTable.com

Thank you, stephen albert - great info!

:)
Dee

Since Maine is a leading potato growing state, they should love your area.

Thank you all so much for your help. It sounds like it will be fun to try and grow some. There seems to be several different methods, so I'll have to play some, see what works best for me. I love experimenting in the garden, just to see what I can do, lol. Thanks again. Carrie

I tried quite a few varieties when we moved to upstate NY and had enough space to grow potatoes for the first time. Now I grow Kennebecs. They're large and fairly heavy producing and don't seem too susceptible to disease. I've never had trouble with potatoes in dry years, but some have developed black leg or black heart in wet years--even though we have a well drained hilltop garden.

Hilling/mulching and regular potato beetle picking make a big difference in the yield I get.

I have three of these in my backyard. They work as well as advertised, if not better. My growing medium is a 1:1 ratio of miracle-gro soil and lobster compost (40lb bags are available at one my nurseries) Start w. a layer at the bottom of the bin, and place the seed potatoes (eye side any direction except pointing down), and cover w. another inch of the soil/compost mixture

During the season, as the plants grow, continue to fill in the bag, leaving only the leaves exposed. At the end of the season, you'll be surprised at how many spuds you get from such a small confined space!