Milpa Gardens

Potato

Solanum tuberosum · nightshades

Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is an annual in the nightshades.

What the corpus records

Mature height
45–90 cm
Mature spread
45 cm
Spacing in row
30 cm
Days to maturity
70–120
Soil pH
5–6
Light
full sun
Frost tolerance
half hardy
Feeder class
heavy
Root depth
shallow
Habit
bush
Lifespan
annual
Ground coverage
moderate
Value to pollinators
low
Scheduled by
days to maturity

Which of these numbers are soft

Every number above carries a confidence tier. These are the ones the corpus does not stand behind — estimated from general knowledge, or contested between sources. They are shown because hiding them would be the dishonest half of showing the rest.

Rules that apply to Potato

Do not plant nightshades in ground that held nightshades within 3 years.

Promising · costly if ignored → warn

Mechanism: Alternaria solani (early blight) and Septoria lycopersici overwinter on tomato debris and solanaceous weeds; a 2-3 year break plus debris removal starves this inoculum. Fusarium has a very narrow host range, so rotating away from the host is effective. Verticillium is the exception: microsclerotia persist ~10 years and it infects 300+ host families, so a garden-scale rotation does not control it.

Evidence: confirmed against 5 sources in the research-based literature.

the 5 sources

Clemson HGIC, 'Tomato Diseases & Disorders', hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/tomato-diseases-disorders (read 2026-07-11): 'tomatoes and related vegetables, such as potatoes, peppers, and eggplants, should not be planted on the same land more than once in three years.'

NC State Extension, 'Early Blight of Tomato', content.ces.ncsu.edu/early-blight-of-tomato (read 2026-07-11): 'Rotate every 2-3 years.'

NC State Extension, 'Septoria Leaf Spot of Tomato', content.ces.ncsu.edu/septoria-leaf-spot-of-tomato (read 2026-07-11): 'The fungus is known to overwinter on infected tomato debris and solanaceous weed hosts'; 'Rotate away from tomato for 2 or more years.'

NC State Extension, 'Verticillium Wilt of Tomato and Eggplant', content.ces.ncsu.edu/verticillium-wilt-of-tomato-and-eggplant (read 2026-07-11): 'The pathogen can survive in the soil without a host for up to 10 years in the form of structures called microsclerotia'; 'affects more than 300 host families.'

UMass Extension, 'Solanaceous, Verticillium Wilt', umass.edu/agriculture-food-environment/vegetable/fact-sheets/solanaceous-verticillium-wilt (read 2026-07-11): 'Verticillium wilt tends to affect a wide range of hosts and can infect many unrelated plants. Fusarium spp., on the other hand, have very narrow host ranges.'

remedy

Plant nightshades in different ground, or wait until 3 years have passed since this ground last held them. Clear and remove the old debris either way — the inoculum overwinters on it.

See this rule in the planner

Do not plant a juglone-sensitive species within the root zone of Juglans. The sensitive list is the hazard's own, and it is wider than the nightshades - it also carries apple and cabbage.

Well established · fatal if ignored → block

Mechanism: Juglans roots exude hydrojuglone, oxidized to juglone, a respiration inhibitor. nightshades are highly sensitive: wilt and death.

Evidence: confirmed against 2 sources in the research-based literature.

the 2 sources

UW-Madison / Wisconsin Horticulture (Joy, Hudelson & Jull, rev. 2024-02-28), 'Black Walnut Toxicity', hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/black-walnut-toxicity (read 2026-07-13): 'Vegetables such as tomato, potato, eggplant and pepper ... are particularly sensitive to juglone'; 'The toxic effects of a mature black walnut tree can extend 50 to 80 feet from the trunk of the tree, with the greatest toxicity occurring within the tree's dripline.'

Iowa State Univ. Extension & Outreach, Yard and Garden FAQ, 'What plants are sensitive to the juglone produced by black walnuts?', yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu (read 2026-07-13): juglone-sensitive plants include 'members of the tomato family (tomato, potato, eggplant, pepper).'

remedy

Plant it outside the walnut's root zone — the whole drip line and beyond. There is no soil treatment for juglone.

See this rule in the planner

Cold-hardy annuals can be sown or transplanted before the last spring frost — hardy crops about three weeks before, half-hardy about two weeks before. Tender crops wait for the frost itself.

Promising · suboptimal if ignored → advise

Mechanism: Cold hardiness. Hardy crops tolerate hard frost and half-hardy crops tolerate light frost, so they can occupy the ground weeks before frost-tender crops are allowed in. The offset is measured from the last spring frost.

Evidence: confirmed against 4 sources in the research-based literature.

the 4 sources

University of Illinois Extension, 'Time Your Vegetable Plantings by Cold Hardiness' (2018-03-26), extension.illinois.edu/blogs/ilriverhort/2018-03-26-time-your-vegetable-plantings-cold-hardiness: very hardy vegetables 'withstand freezing temperatures and hard frosts without injury' (planted earliest in spring); frost-tolerant vegetables 'can withstand light frosts, but not freezing temperatures' (planted a couple of weeks later). LLM-summarised from a read of the page; it establishes the CATEGORIES but states no week offsets.

Colorado State Univ. Extension, GardenNotes #720, 'Vegetable Planting Guide', extension.colostate.edu/resource/vegetable-planting-guide (read 2026-07-25): hardy vegetables go in 'As early as 2-4 weeks before the date of the average last spring frost'; semi-hardy 'As early as 0-2 weeks before the date of the average last spring frost'; tender from seed 'around the date of the average last spring frost'; very tender 'Typically 2+ weeks after'. This is the source that states the offsets in weeks.

Where this rule sits in that range: hardy at 3 weeks is mid-range of CSU's 2-4. Half-hardy at 2 weeks is the EARLIEST EDGE of CSU's 0-2 - the most aggressive planting CSU sanctions, not the middle of it. The rule is inside published guidance at both ends, but it leans early on the half-hardy side and a gardener following it in a cold spring is taking that boundary.

Do not import an offset from another publication's hardiness scheme without checking the category names: CSU has no 'very hardy' tier, so a '4-6 weeks before frost' figure written against a four-tier scheme does not describe CSU's 'hardy'. Categories are not comparable across sources.

See this rule in the planner

Another 51 rules in the corpus apply by situation rather than by species — rotation intervals, frost windows, sun, spacing and soil. Read the full evidence page.

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