22 May 2008

'Taters are in.

Our potatoes are off to a bit of a late start this year—we finally got them in the ground this afternoon after being stymied by a late delivery and then fifteen straight days of rain (sixteen, I guess, if you count the showers this afternoon). We've got All Blues, Yukon Golds, and some red variety that we picked up at the local co-op last week. The goal is around 50 pounds, and I think we've got enough planted to make it. In between the potatoes are rows of corn and beans, so we're hoping to squeeze a lot out of produce from those three beds.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

My potatoes are a disappointment so far.

The weather seemed unusually warm, so I put them in a bit early. Right after I planted them, it got cold, started raining and since my garden is below sea level anyway the trenches filled up with water and the potatoes stayed submerged for more than a week.

I also cut some of the tubers into smaller pieces, and you are supposed to let them dry out and form a crust before you plant them to keep them from rotting, but I was in too much of a hurry to do that...

Next year I'm going to pay more attention to what I'm doing when I plant the potatoes!

Anyway, 14 plants have come up, and that will certainly be a nice harvest, but we were hoping for more.

The SSE has lots of interesting potato varieties if you are ever in the mood for experimenting.

Anonymous said...

How many pounds (approx.) does a single potato plant yield? How many did you plant to get about 50 pounds yield?

Thanks,
T.

Unknown said...

I've never done potatoes.

Next year.

Love your blog and plan on keeping up with you.(:

Mad Man Bamboo Nursery said...

Sounds like a good harvest if all works out as planned. That'll keep you nourished, in part, for quite a few weeks.

Sean

Anonymous said...

Wow, your beds are so grogeous!!! I am totally impressed. Still waiting for all the wretched potatoes we planted weeks ago to shoe themselves, so I think you were smart to hold off 'til now.

Katie said...

Hey guys,

I've heard for every 1lb. of potatoes you plant, you'll get 10 lbs. in yeild. Plus plant a few more in case of disease, so you'll have extra.

vegmonkey said...

They are gonna be lovely. I harvested some today and am gonna post about them tomorrow! There was nothing like the feeling of digging around in the soil with bare hands. I got 1.3kg from 6 tubers, what is that in pounds?

Margaret said...

We always planted potatoes every spring when I was a kid. Unfortunately, I'm in an apartment now and haven't had the chance to participate in a community garden. Good luck with your taters!

Meg said...

Patrick, that stinks. Because of all the rain we got it's probably good that the potatoes went in late, anyway. We will most likely get our potatoes from SSE next year—they're almost like tomatoes in how many varieties there are.

Hi, T. We've got 50 potatoes in the ground and are hoping for at least 40-45 of those to come up. Last year we had only 9 plants and got 13+ pounds, so if we get the same yield out of our 40-some plants we'll be around 50 pounds.

Hello, Michelle. Glad you like the blog!

Sean, we're definitely shooting for a few weeks' worth ... last year we ate the harvest so fast I forget what they tasted like.

Ben, thanks! With all the rain we've had I think you're right—those potatoes would have turned to mush if we'd have planted them when we wanted to. Good luck with yours.

Katie, that number sounds about right. When I first read it, I saw 10 pounds per every potato and thought about how long it would take us to eat 4-500 pounds of potatoes ... too long.

Vegmonkey, congrats on the potato harvest! That's about three pounds.

Meg said...

Thanks, Margaret! Since you can't grow your own, hopefully you can at least find some good stuff at a farmers market or someplace.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

I've never seen a prettier garden and potatoe beds.
Can't wait to see a post about their harvest, too.

Carla said...

My very best wishes to you and your potatoes!! I got one dinner out of my beds and then had to dig up the rest and dispose of them---early blight. Boo Hoo!