Watch Your Garden Grow Potato One recipe using potatoes, tips for growing them in your garden, and information on the various types available. Potato is a coolseason vegetable that ranks with wheat and rice as one of the most important staple crops in the human diet around the world. The white potato is referred to as the Irish potato because it is associated with the potato famine in Ireland in the 19th century. Potatoes are not roots but specialized underground storage stems called tubers. Maximal tuber formation occurs at soil temperatures between 60° and 70°F. The tubers fail to form when the soil temperature reaches 80°F. Potatoes withstand light frosts in the spring and can be grown throughout most of the country in the cooler part of the growing season, but they prefer the northern tier of states for maximal yield and quality.

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