For as long as I can remember Granny has saved her potato peelings and planted them in the spring of the year. She doesn’t necessarily plant every last peel that she peels off of a potato but she likes to at least plant a few.
Yesterday we planted the rest of Granny’s garden for her. She couldn’t believe how fast we planted it. But it isn’t very big and we’d already planted onions, peppers, and tomatoes for her so we didn’t have much left to do.
Once we finished she said if we had time we could plant some potato peelings she’d been saving up.
The Deer Hunter made one long row at the back of the garden and we planted the peelings in it.
I asked Granny how she ever figured out peelings would grow potatoes. She said one of her friends who lived down the road told her about it.
Granny said it was spring of the year and gardening time and they were talking about what they were planting. Granny’s friend said her and her husband couldn’t afford to buy seed potatoes so they always saved their peelings and planted them.
After I asked Granny about the peelings she started telling me about Pap’s father Wade’s potato patch.
Granny said Papaw Wade always planted his taters on Good Friday. And that he’d often ask her to go to town and pick up a tow-sack of seed potatoes since she was working from home in those days.
Papaw Wade loved to grow potatoes and Granny said he grew such big ones that you could make a meal with one potato.
Granny thinks red potato peelings work best, but arsh tater peels will work too.
I’ve never purposely planted peelings like Granny, but we’ve inadvertently planted them when we add compost that hasn’t fully decomposed to garden beds. Right now there’s a pretty potato plant growing in one of our new raised beds on the bank that came from compost.
Although our “compost” potatoes don’t grow as big as the ones we start from seed potatoes they do indeed grow taters.
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we always planted peelings…just one of them things i was taught from a youngster…esp in the late winter when they’d started sprouting and “wasn’t fit to eat”… we’d cut a thick peel off it to get to the good parts and plant the peelings
wow Tipper I didn’t know just the peeling would make potatoes. As a kid we would plant,seed potatoes and it did us all winter. My dad would always say peel then thin as you can get em. He did not want to waist any potatoes. Gosh talking about one potatoe would make a meal. that had to be some big potatoes.
My Pa fed his large family during the Great Depression, WWII and well into the ’50s from a large garden he tended after working an 8 hour day as a printer. I can remember him cutting eyes out of grocery store potatoes, when I was a boy, that he later planted in the garden. I have no idea where he learned to do this. I suspect that seed potatoes were too expensive. Pa was born in Swain County in ’94 and learned his gardening skills working the fields at Thomasville Orphanage as a child.
Blessings to all and especially Miss Cindy.
Tipper, you may have already told this, I have not had time to read every comment word by word. I have been sitting on a knee high bar stool hoeing out my poor looking garden. I have got done and now the arthritis has me aching. How does Granny keep the potatoes peelings from spoiling or rot before she has enough to plant. They will probably keep pretty good without any special care. Ed, I would guess you are right about the seed potatoes being sprayed, I know some of the other seeds are coated. I will wash my potatoes before and after peeling them with a knife and also cut the eyes out if they have them. I don’t eat the skins or peelings either.
My earlier comment might seem to state that the CIPC that is put on potatoes should stop you from planting your potato peelings. It is a suppressant. It only suppresses the growth of sprouts. If the eyes have tiny green buds then the tater has won the battle. The suppressant is only used to store the potatoes until they reach the hands of the consumer. After that the distributor would prefer them to start sprouting so people will throw them away and buy more.
There is a debate over whether or not to cut your seed potatoes. I believe in cutting them. Plants want to reproduce. Cutting them makes them “think” they are wounded. Cut potatoes think they are dying so start trying to reproduce themselves by sending up new sprouts. That’s my theory anyway, for what it’s worth.
Planting peelings instead of whole or cut potatoes means we can enjoy our fried taters without killing the plant that produced them.
Speaking of peeling potatoes with a peeler, we take the peels, add olive oil, garlic powder, salt/pepper and put them in the toaster oven until they get crispy. My husband loves them and takes them to work in a baggie for a little snack. Very tasty and crispy! God bless!
What a great idea! Yum!
Tipper,
I can remember my parents setting aside a predetermined number of bushels of “seed potatoes” for some number of years before they started buying seed potatoes each spring. Also, if the saved “seed potatoes” did not produce as expected, (size, quantity, etc.) they would allow that the “seed potatoes” were running out. That always necessitated the buying of new “seed potatoes.”
I had always heard of people planting potato peelings because they sometimes ran so short of potatoes to eat that they had only the peelings left.
Do not remember us ever planting or eating the peelings. One of the restaurant chains has sold untold tons of fried potatoe peelings?
How do you store the peelings before you plant them? and how long will they store. I wonder if would work with Sweet Potatoes?
Philip-we’ve never tried sweet potatoes, but I don’t think it would work. Granny had her peelings stored in a couple of plastic bags 🙂 In the past when she was able she’d take them out pretty quick and bury them.
Philip, sweet potatoes are planted from “slips”. These are actual plants that grew from whole sweet potatoes in a bed. One potato will grow many slips. I have seen a lot of beds covered in rotten sawdust. A poor persons decoration , mother would put a sweet potato in a bowl of water and let the vines grow across the fireplace mantel. I don’t think she completely covered the potato with water.
I stuck toothpicks in a sweet tater so the I could put it in a glass with the end just touching the water. It sat on the toothpicks. I kept adding water enough to keep the level up the bottom of the plant and sat them in the kitchen window. It grew slips all over it. I don’t have enough space to plant any vines so I stopped there but when the slips start growing leaves you pull them off and put the bottom end of the slips in a little water where they will start growing roots. When they have grown a good start of roots you can put them in the ground and water them every day until they start growing.
That one sweet tater grew over a hundred slips and was still growing when I stopped the experiment.
I actually found this to be true by accident. When we lived near Atlanta, I was throwing my kitchen waste into the dirt around my plants to try to break up the clay a little. Much to my surprise, beautiful potato vines started to grow and yielded a good, little crop of tiny potatoes. I used them to make some really tasty potato salad. As long as we lived there, I put my peels into the dirt and enjoyed actually eating something I grew. Since we’ve always lived in deeply wooded areas, being able to grow something besides a few herbs was so rewarding.
I’ve never heard of planting potato peelings, but I know they do grow. I had put potato skins in one of my garden tubs to compost during the winter and it has grown into a big beautiful plant, which has actually flowered. I’m waiting patiently for the plant to start dying off, but I know it’s still got a ways to go before that happens. I’m excited to see how the potatoes turn out since I’ve never had any luck with growing any decent size potatoes even with sprouts.
Tipper, so I’ll clear on this, do the potato peals have to have the eyes on them?
Pat-I don’t think Granny ever checks she just buries the wad of peelings 🙂 I’m sure there are eyes on them though.
There is a love for potatoes among most Appalachian families. I recall planting and digging them most of my life. I always loved to enlist help from children who get as excited as finding Easter eggs. There was one place Mom always got her seed potatoes at a market on the state line. Years later a young descendant still running the market confided that her Poppa always just substituted with regular potatoes. It is supposedly the spray (CIPC- looked it up)to keep potatoes in the grocery store from sprouting. We never had a problem nor did anyone I knew of growing great potato crops. I failed to spread the compost in a large compost bin for a couple of years, and it had a great harvest. Yay for Granny, and hope you follow with her success. Seed potatoes have become almost more expensive than buying the potatoes. I always have volunteers and leave them.
My peels always produce potatoes – in my cold compost plot. Its my garbage can. I take all my kitchen scraps and bury them in the dirt – about 5×5 patch. Each spring it gives me acorn squash, potatoes, and tomatoes. Each evening I take the stuff out and bury it and it disappears in a matter of days with tons of worms in there. Have no clue why this works but it does and I thank God for his many ways that plants reproduce.
Most potatoes are treated with a sprout suppressant CIPC to keep them from sprouting. That along with cold storage makes them available commercially year round. I always wash and scrub my bought potatoes before I bake them and never eat the skin. When I peel them I use a knife and take off a thick layer of the outer skin. I am always careful to remove the eyes if any remain.
I have heard said that most of the nutrients are in the skin of a potato. Yes, and so is most of the CICP.
Is “heard said” a common phrase in your area these days?
Ed-I hear “heard said” a lot here 🙂
I have never planted potato peelings, but I did plant “grocery store” potatoes this year. I had some potatoes that I had bought for eating that had grown eyes before I used them up, so I cut them into pieces and planted them. The plants are real pretty and I know from past experience they will grow potatoes, but maybe not as well as seed potatoes. I am not trying to be a smart donkey, but what is different about a seed potato and one bought in grocery store?
Randy-I haven’t a clue 🙂 But from the comments it seems like some store bought potatoes are sprayed with something to prevent them from sprouting. But they must not all be sprayed since Granny’s and mine grow taters. Or maybe some don’t get as strong a dose of spray as others 🙂
I, 9 times out of 10 cook my potatoes with the peel on. next year I will peel few and try this. Free food from food waste what a concept. I always learn something from this blog.
Tipper is a real pipper and I learn something new here practically every day! Tater peelin’s with eyes a’watchin’ is a nifty tater growing trick! Leave it up to Granny to know a whole lot of stuff for sure!!! Since I got the worst dirt in WV, taters is not worth the hassle, but if times get much tougher, I got another trick in my bag… here’s hope and joy for another day and a garden growing! Give Miss Cindy and Granny a kiss and hug for us all out here who think those 2 chicks rule the roost!!!
I haven’t bought potatoes to plant in years. I simply cut up and use the ones left over from last year’s garden. As long as there is one eye, we get a plant. I plant two small rows, hill them, and then get about 2 bushel potatoes a year. My kids love to dig up potatoes – they call is the potato hunt (instead of treasure hunt). It is one of the funnest garden activities and they always have the competition of who will find the largest one.
Hi Tipper, The best potatoes I’ve ever grown grew in my compost heap the year I had plenty of grass clippings and a bit of straw in it. I had 2 potatoes that were over a pound a piece
My father told us a true story of a poor family. The mother had died and the father drank to much and the children never had enough to eat. A nearby family left what was left of their seed potatoes on the porch in a poke bag. The oldest daughter found the potatoes and thought they had been left as a kindness to feed the children. She peeled the swiveled taters and they ate them. Later that day the neighbor asked where she planted the potatoes. She felt terrible and retrieved the peelings and planted them. Everyone said they had the best crop of taters from those peelings they had ever had. Mountain folk are the best neighbors…then and now. So thankful to have been born here.
He who works the land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.
With you and Matt working the land and Granny with her wisdom, she will have an abundance of arsh taters.
Have a blessed day.
We have never planted potato peels, but I’ll definitely be trying it now. I don’t remember my grandparents doing it either and they had a big garden.
Amen!
Another new trick to try! Thanks, Tipper.
God bless granny! God bless Ms Cindy, God bless Tipper and her family ,God bless the Pressley girls and husband and boyfriend in Jesus name ✝️❤️
Thanks for sharing this about the potatoe peelings, to my knowledge we’ve never planted potatoe peelings but now we just might need to try it.
But we like you have put things in our compost pile that have come up in our gardens later that we didn’t expect to see.
It’s amazing how smart our elders were & still are today to know what they can get to grow in the garden to supply their needs and their families needs.
And to think I have been throwing potato peelings away for years. You know you have sparked an interest to see if I can do it as well. Right now I do have some red and white potatoes that I am getting ready to dry pack can and it will be interesting to watch. I had never dry packed potatoes and have recently see a you tuber do it. My friend said she did it and the flavor is awesome, but first I have to make some ghee. You guys have really expanded your garden and I see a lot of canning in your future. Take care, God Bless, and know that we are praying for Miss Cindy and Granny.
Ya’ll need to team up on a post or two. I enjoy reading your reply. I always learn something between the two of ya.
I take it Granny peels her taters with a knife? I can’t imagine doing this with peels made with a potato peeler! They’d be way too thin, I would think.
Douglas-yes she uses a knife 🙂
I’m glad you posted this today and for a particular reason; that reason being the story of how Burkes Garden, VA got its name. Burkes Garden is an isolated, high mountain valley in southwest Virginia. First discovered by whites (the story goes) by a hunter following elk, the Long Hunters came and in one of those early parties the cook one day was named Burke. They had potatoes (and pack horses I’m thinking) and Burke threw out (buried?) his peelings. Next year another party came and found Burkes ‘garden’ of potatoes. Until today I had never had an independent verification of that legend. Now I have ‘the rest of the story’ thanks to you and Granny.
Ron-love that story! Thank you for sharing it 🙂