One of my favorite gardening goodies is the enduring potato. I think it’s because potato’s are filling, delicious and I never get any complaints from anyone that they don’t like them. Potatoes are a relatively neutral food as in many people don’t think to much about them at all until they don’t have one. They are easy to plant, although they do take a little time to dig out, and they are easy to store. Here in North Carolina they last quite a while in “cool” storage in the garage. We plant ours in buckets so we have to dig for them and then shovel them out at the bottom but for the level we plant them at they are easy and its like digging around for a Cracker Jack Toy its always a surprise. I am so forgetful that I never even know which variety I am digging up so it’s truly exciting!
Then I have to make sure they are cured for storage so I lay them out on newspapers for about 2 weeks at 50 to 60 degrees (cool and dark place) so far I have not really grown enough potatoes to warrant having to store them long anyway so I have never had any issues but after 2 weeks their skins will toughen up but make sure you do not wash your potatoes before storage just brush the dirt off of them. I am actually getting ready to plant more potatoes this weekend. You see the weather is so mild where I live and the potatoes love our sandy, loamy soil that I just harvested these potatoes. This year we only harvested a couple of buckets but we are putting new systems in place this next year which will hopefully facilitate a more bountiful harvest!
The sad part is in spite of the popularity of french fries in the fast food world the humble potato is in decline. In November 2011 an article was published in the New York Times that the sale of the potato was in decline in Ireland as no longer being the carbohydrate of choice. A decline is also in process in the US and Canada – farmers have attempted to plant less to encourage demand but it doesn’t appear to be helping. Some of the reasons the potato is in decline most likely is attributed to everyone realizing finally french fries are not good for us but I think it has a lot to do with other offerings being available as well.
In spite of this decline I sure love planting them on our Lil’ Suburban Homestead and hope to harvest way more next year. I also love a good baked potato with just some butter and salt and pepper. Simple sometimes is best!
For some of us the early Spring planting has begun! Enjoy and have a great Friday everyone!
Fondly,
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I’m hoping to get mine in the ground this weekend as well. Just got the last of my seeds in the mail today so I’m starting another round of seedlings. A bit late, but I dragged my feet a bit for some reason… At least the cat won’t get them this year.
We are behind as usual too……….we just kind of putz along and plant a little here, plant a little there and every now and then I go crazy!
I LOVE potatoes….any kind of potato. Those purple ones have a really nice flavor, too 🙂 Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 🙂
Heather potatoes will never go in decline at my house….LOL! Thanks for stopping in good to see you!
We just had homemade french fried spuds last night…. Always a good treat!
Lea I agree they are always a good treat one I look forward too! Thanks for stopping by!
We love potatoes, this year we are going to try groins them in what some call a potatoe condo. Basically a box that you can keep adding onto. Its said you can grow 100lbs in 4 sq ft. So we are going to put that to the test, we also can them so hopefully this year we can grow enough to last all year. God bless all
Eric and Beth that is exactly what we are doing kind of sort of….I don’t think my husband really built something I think he has fashioned something together I will have to take pics!
That’s what I use…
How do you plant potatoes in buckets? We would like to try planting them this year.
Karen we literally just use one of those huge buckets that they use at the nurseries to grow big trees in but the other method looks like this:http://tipnut.com/grow-potatoes/
I have potatoes growing in buckets too. I fear I used buckets that are too small. They are three gallon buckets. I chose that size because I planted Russian fingerlings which are small. I don’t know. We’ll see. Yours look great.
Well I think the good news with potatoes is that if you don’t like how you do them in the Spring you can change up how you do them in the Fall! Let me know how they do! I love the fingerlings…but I am sticking with the Yukons I will let you know how it goes. Thanks for stopping in!