1. Potatoes are ready to harvest well after the plants have flowered and they are turning brown (dying off). You can harvest the potatoes earlier than this but the potatoes will be not be fully matured (some people like to harvest potatoes early to get smaller "fingerling" potatoes). I like to use the strategy of harvesting my first crop of potatoes a little early so that I have time to get a second planting of them in that season.

2. What type of tool is best to harvest potatoes? I personally prefer to use a short handled 4 prong (wide prong) pitchfork. Many people like to use shovels which work fine.

3. Place your blade/end of forks, a couple of inches from the edge of the mounded row (potatoes are best grown in raised beds or mounded rows) and dig into the soil at a steep/almost vertical angle then lean back on your digging instrument. This action should unearth the potatoes without damaging many of them. If you dig straight into the mounded row or at a more horizontal angle into the row, you will likely slice into the potatoes. Repeat this step as many times as necessary until you are sure you have all the potatoes. You can also grab the potato plant once you have loosened the soil and pull that out of the ground, give it a shake to get rid of the dirt and reveal the potatoes.

4. Only dig up the potatoes that you want to eat in the next couple of days. Potatoes will stay fresh underground for quite a while, so you can harvest them as you use them.