Potatoes have to be the simplest vegetable to grow, which is why I grow them every year without fail.
Here you can see their stems poking out of the ground in my back garden/yard through tough, dry, rocky, clay soil.
The process is as follows:
1) make a hole in the ground 10 centimetres deep, place the seed potato in the hole, and cover it with soil.
2) make sure potatoes are planted 60 centimetres apart in all directions to allow for adequate growth
3) the picture shows how I’ve ‘earthed up’ the potato plant stems with soil to protect potatoes from sunlight which will turn them green otherwise. It also helps the plant grow more potatoes.
I planted potatoes in early March, but last Autumn I completely weeded the ground and added grass clippings from my own garden and a neighbour’s to decompose over winter.
If you’re in climate zone 8 like me there are potato varieties that you can plant right through to late August in time for Christmas, but do ask your local supplier who will be happy to advise you.
Green shoots and the value approach
One of my jobs as an investor is to prepare the ground from a philosophical and practical framework of investment operations.
A value approach that makes sense to me in the same way that your favourite musician makes sense and speaks to you.
Planting potatoes into the ground without prepping it is possible but not optimal.
My preparation for recent investments has been a years-long love of reading books, annual reports, blog articles, and newsletters on subjects ranging from digital marketing, ancient philosophy and gardening in addition to value investing.
One of the greatest discoveries of the value approach is that it does not matter if the economy is experiencing green shoots of recovery or recession; a key role of the value investor is to discover the intrinsic value of a listed business and purchase its stock below that value.
In my whole life, I’ve never known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time – none, zero
Charlie Munger
There really is no substitute for amassing knowledge from consuming the thoughts of others who have done what you want to do and what you want to achieve.