Diggin' 'Taters!!

Harvest is fun...especially when you're harvesting something you don't have to wash, peel, chop, then can, or freeze, or dehydrate! Potato harvesting is just one big treasure hunt.

Unfortunately, the camera was charging whilst we were digging them....then again, maybe that's a blessing in disguise. You probably didn't really need photos of a potato fork in the dirt...potatoes in the soil...then into the bucket, didja?

Still, once the camera had fully charged, I couldn't resist a picture of the harvest so far. This is all of the russets and blue potatoes, but just a few of the reds and yellows. We dug the ones that were starting to die off, but we left the plants that are still really vigorous.

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With about 2/3 (give or take) of our potatoes harvested, we have seventy pounds! When we got them all sorted out, I got silly and weighed them separately. I wrote down the amounts of each type on a little piece of blue paper. That little piece of blue paper is currently MIA, but I remember that 40 pounds of them are the blue potatoes.

I planted about 4 pounds of blue seed potatoes, so I'm really happy with that yield. The russets (in the red bucket) are from grocery store potatoes that were sprouting in the bag last spring. We had 4 extra holes, so I cut the sprouters up, tossed them in the ground, and there you go! It's not a lot of them, but it's still fun.

The yellows are Klondike Gold. They are 'grainy'...sort of fluffy like a baked potato, even when you steam or boil them. The reds are very creamy and smooth, while the blues are somewhere in between. ALL of them taste delicious, and I'm really thrilled with our harvest so far.

Our helper:
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So far, all we have done is wash and quarter some of the smaller potatoes...then simmer them in lightly salted water. I put butter, salt and pepper on the table, but we didn't use any of that - they were perfect! Last night for supper we had some turkey 'barbecue', and vegetables from the garden: corn on the cob, red, yellow and blue potatoes, and steamed cabbage. Yum, yum!

Comments

stacey said…
you're making me hungry! when can i stop by for dinner?
Laura said…
Tonight would be good! We're going fishing today (at least I think we are), so it should be a really nice dinner! ;)
Toni said…
Yay purple potatoes! Those are so hard to find in stores here. Once again, can I just come live with you?
Motherofmany said…
will you please tell me exactly how you grow potatoes? we go through almost 20 pounds a week!
Laura said…
Jaime Anne, they are planted in the spring. You can get seed potatoes at feed stores or garden centers. First, cut the seed potatoes so each piece has 2-3 'eyes' on it. Let those dry out for a day or two.

Next, dig holes, put in cut pieces of the seed potatoes (I put 2-3 pieces in each hole), and keep them watered. Deep mulch is a good idea as well. They are ready to harvest after they bloom and when the plants begin to die off.

That's a very compact 'short version', and there are other methods as well. A couple of gardening books from your library might help!
Laura said…
Toni (toni toni), I sent you a PM a few days back...did you get it?

;)

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