When to plant new potatoes?

Depending on the available space and desires, you can plant different types of vegetable plants in your garden. The onion, the tomato and many others are for example essential in the kitchen and therefore good alternatives to perfect the vegetable space.

But an option that you shouldn't minimize are potatoes. Much appreciated by young and old, potatoes have become essential bases in different recipes.

And contrary to what one might think, their culture and their maintenance are not complicated. It is also within everyone's reach.

Potatoes, yes, but not only

Know it once and for all, you can find different types of potatoes. The most popular one, especially from the gardeners, are New potatoes. They are appreciated by their taste and their ease of adaptation to any recipe, but also to their very common collection cycle. Indeed, opting for a new potato, You can have crops every 75 days on average.

But be careful, to exploit this development speed, it is necessary to respect certain planning conditions. A question very often returns from the front of the stage: when to plant new potatoes? And this is precisely the object of our discussion.

The first landing at the end of winter

For you who barely embark in the cultivation of the new potato, know that the right time to start is towards the end of winter, even if necessary, the beginning of spring. After about 75 days, you will throw them, which can be considered for some as an early harvest. But in this phase, the potato will already be consumable. Just rinse them before cooking.

Be careful, however, the harvest after 2 and a half months is not mandatory. You can always let mature potatoes in the ground if you want. Everything is a question of taste. But in this case, we will not speak more than a new potato.

The taste and speed are not the only reasons that push some growers to make an early crop of potatoes. In fact, shortening the production cycle, We minimize the proliferation of insects. This therefore facilitates the maintenance of his vegetable garden.

In any case, we recommend land at this time of year to ensure the correct development of potatoes. Towards the end of winter in fact, the mold is lower. And the temperature is more favorable to the sowing of potatoes.

Not to mention the fact that in spring, Precipitation and rains are more frequent than in summer. Something to simplify the maintenance of your garden. It is no longer worth wasting a lot of time to water.

To be more precise, in the south of France, it is preferable not to plant new potato plants in February or March. It is also recommended for the rest of the country. On the other hand, if you live on the side of the Atlantic, however, wait until the end of March to do it.

The climatic conditions differ from one region to another. And since the new potatoes are very demanding, especially as regards humidity and soil temperature, the moments of setting can be different.

Preparations to make

Although we recommend an update in early spring, it is still to make some preparations before the plantation of your new potatoes. For example, It is necessary to take 30 days before the scheduled date to sprout the tubers.

For this step, you have to place the plants in a flat cage, taking care of well space. It is recommended to keep them in a dry, airy, enlightened and An average temperature from 10 to 15 ° C. This will provide you with optimal germination, an increase of 2-3 cm from the plant. Another solution would also be to buy tubers who have already germinated from the florists.

In addition, a few months before the start of your vegetable garden with your new potatoes, you have to create a greenhouse. The reason? This guarantees you a good development of your potato plants. In fact, in many regions of France, the beginning of March is still a favorable moment for some periods of frost and very cold. Which is not in favor of the new potatoes. It is therefore to start starting your plantation in a greenhouse where you can manage temperatures alone.

In addition, in a greenhouse where on the site already scheduled for your vegetable garden, it will be necessary to prepare the ground as it should. So take some time to create your compost. In addition, you have to create the grooves that will arrive and welcome your plants. As long as you do it, it also remembers to drain the soil before installation. This species does not appreciate humidity. For these procedures, it will take a few days before the early spring.

For the success of your project, you should know that the new potatoes do not live on good relationships with weeds can prevent the correct development of your plants. Reason why experts generally recommend gardeners To create a culture on the binage.

The principle is simple. Unlike my classical culture that requires you to wait almost a month after the young shoots have been raised before mixing the earth, you have to do it immediately. If a frost is announced, wait for the latter to have passed to treat the earth. If necessary, you will not be able to collect within 75 days announced.

A straw culture takes more time

If for the cultivation of the classic potato, straw can be a good idea, this is not the case for those who want a new potato. Indeed, It is necessary to wait 1 to 2 months after the plantation that the first germs have not appeared. For the beginning of culture in March, you can only enjoy potatoes in the summer.

However, it is clear that the cultivation of potatoes under straw has more and more the wind in their stern in France for some time. And for a good reason, straw is not only a good fertilizer, but also helps to protect plants from frost.