Preparation

• Find and prepare your potato-planting site before you start your planting, to allow the soil to rest before it must support a crop. Put potatoes in a spot where they get at least eight hours of full sun every day from spring into summer, and make sure that the site drains quickly. If the site tends to puddle, plan to build a raised bed to keep the potatoes out of the water.
  
  

Early Planting

• Plant early potato cultivars up to two weeks prior to the last frost date in your region, according to your local cooperative extension's frost calendar. These are frost-hardy plants that do best with cool-weather starts and mature early in the summer for a quick harvest.
  
  

Second Planting

• Plant midseason and late potato cultivars at the last frost or just after. These potatoes don't need such an early start and stay in the ground longer into the summer, to lengthen your garden's growing season.
  
  

Soil and Spacing

• Potatoes need soil that is rich and loose, for easy root and tuber development. Mix 3 inches of organic compost into the top 6 inches of soil before planting, or build a raised bed by laying 6 inches of compost on top of the natural soil. Dig 4-inch-deep trenches for the potatoes, spaced at 30 to 36 inches and plant seed potatoes at every 10 to 12 inches.