Growing Potatoes
How to grow potatoes Introduction : On a trip to Peru a few years ago, we were stunned to see the hundreds of varieties of potatoes - all shapes, sizes and colours. Peruvian potatoes (Credit: BBC) The humble potato was domesticated in the South American Andes some 8,000 years ago and was only brought to Europe in the mid-1500s. This seemingly innocuous action would shape world events like nothing before. According to historian William H. McNeill, " Potatoes, by feeding rapidly growing populations, permitted a handful of European nations [to seek new lands forcing them] to assert dominion over most of the world between 1750 and 1950. " Unfortunately without proper crop rotation, the entire crop can fail. As the world realised very tragically when between 1845-52 Ireland suffered a period of starvation, disease and emigration that became known as the Great Potato Famine of Ireland where an estimated 1,000,000 people died. This, along with emigration to escap...