If you are Irish or an Irish wannabe, you may have pinched or received a pinch on Tuesday. You may also have enjoyed a mound of “Irish” potatoes. Nothing is “Irish” about these potatoes — they originated in the Americas — however, they have become a staple in diets worldwide and they grow well in a wide range of conditions.

Potatoes are often counted as a root vegetable. They do grow under the ground, but they are not roots. Botanically speaking, they are underground stems known as tubers. The roots extend from them, but essentially they are energy storage parts.

Potatoes are planted from pieces of the tubers. It is a form of cloning, which has always been part of the world of plant reproduction. Given the right conditions, a small piece of the plant regenerates a new plant exactly like the one it came from.

This is an ideal arrangement when the mother plant has the characteristics you seek. Seeds are always crosses and cannot be counted on to retain all the parents’ characteristics.

Potatoes do produce seeds, but the only people who plant them are those who hope to develop a new variety or someone who likes the novelty of the experience.

If you plan to grow potatoes, plant the pieces of the tuber. What variety of potato you choose to raise is strictly a matter of preference. Among the good varieties often grown here are Red LaSoda, Pontiac, Russet and Norland.

Plant potatoes when the soil temperature reaches 50 degrees — about two weeks before the average last frost date. When the ground can be worked, make soil improvements and then plant.

Acquire “seed potatoes” to plant. Despite the name, these starts are not grown from seed, but are healthy potatoes from a healthy plant that have not been treated to prevent sprouting.

You are likely to have difficulties getting leftover grocery store potatoes to grow well because they are generally treated with a sprout inhibitor to keep them from sprouting in storage. If they grow at all, they will likely not do well.

Cut the seed potatoes into small pieces, making sure each section has two eyes in it. The eyes are buds and they will sprout roots and stems.

Let the cut potatoes sit for a day or two to allow the cut ends to suberize.

Dig a hole about 6 inches deep and place one cut section in the bottom of the hole. Do not put fertilizer into the same hole as the potato section as fertilizer will burn it. Instead, mix fertilizer into the soil before planting.

At first, the plant grows using the nutrients from the cutting, but as time passes, it will begin to form new potatoes beneath the soil surface.

If you have a hankering for new potatoes, you can carefully dig under the plant and remove a few, allowing the rest to enlarge.

In very late summer or during the fall, the above-ground part of the plant will turn yellow and die back. When this happens it is time to dig the potatoes for storage.

Sometimes the plant holds on until frost turns it black. Obviously, it is time to dig the potatoes when that happens.

Ideally, the potatoes should be cleaned off and allowed to sit in a dry, cool, well-ventilated area — outdoors if weather permits — to harden off before putting them into common storage.