Potatoes are shown, freshly dug. Sprouts may take a full month before they emerge from the soil surface, but then usually grow quickly.

A flowering potato plant.

Four-leaf clovers, emerald green apparel and leprechaun hats can only signify one thing: potato planting season. You can wait until after St. Patrick’s Day to get your seed spuds in the ground, but mid- to late March really is the preferred time for planting in this area.

To get ready for planting, gardeners need to think about soil preparation. Tilling or working the soil when the garden is too wet can do more harm than good, so you may have to wait until spring rains subside. Add compost or organic matter (last year’s leaves are great additions to the garden) to improve air and water movement through the soil.

Use seed potatoes from a garden center instead of ones from the grocery section to ensure that they are disease-free, and look for a tag or label designating them as such. Since you’ll need to cut the potatoes into sections before planting, you can usually figure that a pound of potatoes will provide eight to 10 pieces to plant.

Picking out the varieties of potatoes you want to plant is the fun part. Red, white and russet are the most common types, and there are several varieties of each that grow well in this area. And, since I’ve been asked a few times, if you are looking for “little potatoes,” all of the varieties will provide those. Unlike tomatoes and some other vegetables, little potatoes are actually just baby potatoes. Start digging a little early (usually in June) to find the babies.

For red potatoes, my favorite is Red Norland. Norlands produce a little earlier than some of the other varieties recommended by Kansas State University researchers, including LaRouge and LaSoda, even though the latter two typically produce more. Purple Viking is a newer red variety that is also recommended by K-State and typically produces more potatoes per plant than Norland.

Russets are thicker-skinned than red and white potatoes and are what most people think of as typical baking potatoes. Norkotah is the best performer in Kansas.

Norchip and Superior are two of the best white potato varieties, and I like to grow a few of each since Norchip is better for fries and Superior is listed as one of the best for mashing. Kennebec and Irish Cobbler, which have been on the recommended list for decades, are still good choices but may be harder to find because of their poor disease tolerance.

You might also like to try some of the less-common varieties like Yukon Gold or blue-skinned potatoes. Since the flavor and texture of some of these varieties might be different than what you are used to, I recommend trying them sparingly unless you know you like them.

Once you have the seed potatoes picked out, you will need to cut them into chunks two or three days before planting. Make sure to leave at least one eye (these are the buds that sprouts grow from) per section and leave the chunks large enough that they provide some food for the emerging sprout. After cutting, store the potatoes in a warm location so the cut surfaces can heal a bit — this will help keep the seeds from rotting once they are planted.

Plant your seed pieces 1 to 2 inches deep and about 8 to 12 inches apart.

Sprouts may take a full month before they emerge from the soil surface, but then usually grow quickly. Pile soil on the base of the plants, creating mounds, so that the new potatoes will be protected from sunlight when they are produced by the plant. Mulching the plants with straw, prairie hay or other material can also be beneficial.

Baby potatoes will be here before we know it!

— Jennifer Smith is the Horticulture Extension Agent for K-State Research and Extension-Douglas County and can be reached at 843-7058.