With potatoes, you don’t just harvest and store them. There is an importing step in between called curing.
Harvesting Tips: 1) Even though potatoes grow underground, they let you know when they are ready to be harvested. If you want smaller potatoes, harvest them after they start flowering. If you want full size potatoes for the type of variety that you are growing, harvest the potatoes after the stems wither and flop over. 2) If you are growing your potatoes in a grow bag like I am, then you have two options. You can dump the bag on a tarp and pick the potatoes or use a tool like a CobraHead or your gloved hands to search for the spuds! Be careful, so you don’t pierce the skin.
Curing Tips:  3) Cure the potatoes in a dark, cool spot like a garage or basement. 4) Lay the potatoes on racks so there is some air circulation. 5) Put newspapers underneath to catch the dirt. 6) The skin should be toughened in one to two weeks and read to be stored.
Storing Tips: 6) Just like garlic, I would suggest storing the potatoes on a movable rack so you can move the potatoes as needed due to temperature changes in your home. For instance, I move the potatoes to my basement in the summer and back to the garage in the fall when the temperature cools down and the heater comes on inside. The ideal location is dark and cool.
Freezing Tips: 7) Rinse the potatoes.  8) Cut the potatoes in any size you want with or without the skins. 9) Blanch the sliced potatoes by putting them in boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes and submerge them in ice water for about the same amount of time to stop any additional cooking. 10) After you drain the potatoes, let them dry. 11) Place the sliced potatoes individually on a cookie sheet and freeze them. 12) Store enough for one meal in a vacuum sealed bag.
If you need a refresher on how the types of potatoes and how to sow and grow potatoes, then click on it.
