Potatoes are now cultivated all over the world and have become a food staple. Potatoes are grown as an annual but can be considered a perennial since they will re-grow from the tubers produced on the underground stems. Potatoes which were missed in the suppertime dig will sprout the following year and it is a common occurrence to have potato plants growing out of the compost pile as a result of discarded peelings or old potatoes. Seed potatoes are simply potato tubers which have been grown and certified to be true to type and disease free. For your vegetable garden, it is important to use certified seed potatoes rather than planting potatoes you buy at the grocery store since store-bought table potatoes have generally been treated with a sprout inhibitor and will not sprout freely.
Tubers have all of the characteristics of normal stems including dormant buds, called eyes.
When planting potatoes, you may plant whole, small potatoes or cut them into pieces. The pieces should be about the size of an egg and there should be one or two eyes on each piece. One of the eyes, or buds, will dominate and become the new potato plant. Potatoes can grow in a wide range of soil conditions but prefer a light, well-drained, loamy and slightly acidic soil. They are heavy feeders so the soil should be deeply worked with a liberal amount of added compost and organic matter.