The garden adage is to plant on Good Friday, but potatoes can be planted from mid March through mid April. Tubers planted too early into cold wet soils may rot before growing. Millionaire wannabes and horticulturists know that the part we eat is actually a tuber and not a root.
Tubers are specialized underground storage stems.
There are more than 100 varieties of potatoes including early, mid-season and late varieties. The most common commercial variety is Russet Burbank, but it's not the best for home use. Caribe, Irish Cobbler, Norland and Superior are nice early varieties. Midseason varieties include Red Lasoda, Red Pontiac and the very productive Viking. Late seasons include Katahdin and Kennebec.