Normally, the extension office in Oklahoma tells us not to plant any second crop of potatoes. Because of the heat, the yields and quality of the potatoes will be much lower than a late winter, early spring planting. Then this summer happened. I was sitting a noon on an August day when I realized that it was below 70F. Somewhere was 25-35F degrees of heat hiding. Since this does not happen often here, I decided to try to so some Summer potatoes. Here is my misadventures in Summer potatoes.

Problems

So here is the thing. The high heat can come back at any point and mess everything up. I have the warm days left to grow another round of potatoes, as I have nearly 90 days of season left before my first frost. But I never planned to do this. I have a container with soil but this soil has been used for potatoes, earlier in the year and had a round of baby bok choy grown in it as well.

This is going to be some relatively spent soil.

Since blight is an issue no matter the soil I use, I am not too concerned about disease. Nor am I concern about pests as my potatoes were largely pest free. The pH is probably fine but I will check that later after a good storm thoroughly dampens the soil and everything has a chance to breakdown.

My big issue is that this soil has been depleted. Not a great situation.

Also, my first crop was underwhelming. I think I did not have a potassium in the soil the first time. This is another thing I need to fix.

My Summer Potato Process

I am going to start this with a focus on trying to add nutrients to the soil. This is one of those moments where the organic might get a free helicopter ride. I am going to try this organic but I am prepared that it might fail.

Lets get started.

First I need some potatoes.

They are already trying to sprout so I figured I would let the little determined guys make some babies.

Time to look at what we go in the pot.

So this has already been dumped from hunting potatoes earlier this year. Some of the mulch is mixed into the soil too. Normally, I would be concern as it can mess with the nitrogen. I am not too concerned about nitrogen in this case so it should be alright.

Soil Prep for My Summer Potatoes

First, I will remove the mulch.

The rain is hunting me so I will get most of this process out of the way quickly and start my fertilization. Currently, I am using a Blood Meal, Bone meal and Kelp Meal fertilizers in the garden this year.

I am going to apply a rough 9.5-9.5-9.5 blend. I want to make sure there is a general level in the soil. Because I am not having this tested, I want to ensure their is a bit of everything in the soil. I am adding about a 1/4 cup on the top of the soil.

Then I will dig it in.

With that base laid out, it is time for the secret weapon.

This is a mix that is lower on Nitrogen and Phosphorous but much higher on potassium. Roughly it is about 4-3-8.5. I will add all of this to the pot.

Spud Time

Rough planning has my potatoes going into a triangle. Note the sprouts are pointing up.

Lets dig a hole down to about 6 inches from the bottom. I want these guys to have to get to the top of the soil the hard way.

With the hole done, drop the spud in sprout side up.

Then it is time to back fill and dig the next hole.

This is going to get drab fast. Let’s just say I got them all dug in the same way to save some bandwidth and hard drive space.

They are all dug into the pot. Let add the mulch we pulled off earlier.

With the spuds planted, we need to water it well. I want to water it until the water starts coming out of the drainage holes. This pot has not had a proper watering a in few weeks.

Alright, I am going to leave it here. After a week or two, I will acidify the soil if needed. I have mixed and jumbled up the soil with many materials that need a chance to start breaking down. I want to give it some time to rest and recover before determining any more soil adjustments.

Since I am feeling lazy, I will wait to increase the amount of mulch on it until I do my fall garden.

Final Thoughts on My Summer Potatoes

I have no idea of how successful these Summer potatoes are going to be. This is an opportunity to do something because the weather is cooperating. Calling this a rare opportunity is an understatement.

I have no idea what fertilization I needed. I am really leaning into the fact that it is hard to over fertilize with organic fertilizers. Potatoes are heavy feeders. Normally, I would have just added a handful or so to the garden instead of the roughly 1/2 cup that I did. There should be enough nitrogen to get leaf growth and I can allow that to guide my next steps.

This is really playing by ear on this experiment. Exciting, isn’t it.