‘Tater Harvest Day 2007
“Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth.”
Ok, they weren’t sweet potatoes and I’m not planning on shutting my mouth any time soon. But, that’s the song that came to mind and sometimes you just have to go with it. Even if it doesn’t work.
Today was ‘Tater Harvest Day. The vines of my potato plants have died back and that is the sign that harvesting must start. Harvest we did.
This year our garden center didn’t have seed potatoes so I bought them on-line from Wood Prairie Farm. They arrived quickly and were in great shape. I followed the directions that came with them. The potatoes started growing like crazy almost as soon as they hit the dirt in the bottom of the barrel. It wasn’t long before they reached the top and all I had to do was water them and wait.
Today we went to harvest them. Harvesting is a two step process. Step 1 – dump out the trash can. Step 2 – listen to the kids giggle and scream as they dig through the dirt and earthworms to find their treasures. It’s kinds like an Easter egg hunt. Just very dirty. We enjoyed it.
We planted both red and white potatoes this year. The red did better than the white by about 4 to 1. I’m looking forward to fixing some of each for dinner tonight. The blue potatoes we planted last year were delicious.
Here is my potato plan for next year.
- Instead of planting several plants in one large container, I think I’ll drill holes in the large drywall buckets, left over from the addition, and plant one in each.
- I’ll convince my husband that having a row of drywall buckets full of potato plants along the side fence is not a sign of white trashdom.
- I’ll start them just a few weeks earlier so they can get more growing time in before it gets really hot.
- I’ll remember to water them more often.
Happy ‘Tater Harvest Day to everyone.
Filed under Growing Something |5 Responses to “‘Tater Harvest Day 2007”
Leave a Reply
Glad our seed potatoes did well for you. We got rained out at noontime on Thur and will go back to digging our potato crop at noon today. Here in northern Maine the schools are shut down in the Fall so the kids can work the potato harvest. (Read about it in John Steinbeck’s “Travels With Charley”). We have about 20 picking up the potatoes dug up by our John Deere potato digger which is a machine pulled by a tractor.
This year’s crop is high quality and we have good yields. We got timely rains all summer when we needed them. A lot of folks have been hurting this year from lack of rain.
After the potatoes are out we go onto carrots, parsnips and beets. I still like potatoes the best. Jim
It sounds idyllic. And now you get to eat them! You could post a recipe or two.
We used car tires piled up and filled with earth to grow our potatoes this year. Started off with two tires and then added tires as the potato plant started to emerge, therefore theoretically increasing our yield.
I think i harvested too early though.
Here’s my first entry about it:
http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/360
Jim, I am happy to hear your harvest is going well. I’ll be ordering my potatoes soon. I’m looking forward to next year’s crop already. There is something about growing potatoes that just feels right.
The area I live in, with its rocky red clay soil, isn’t well suited for potatoes but I enjoy growing them in old trashcans. I was excited to find your site as I was looking for an organic non-GMO product. Even though I don’t have one, I also share your views on the necessity of small family farms. That might be the reason I grow everything from salad vegetables, to potatoes, to blueberries on our acre lot in the middle of a sub-division! With a little planning fruits and vegetables can make just as nice a landscape as any other plant.
Amelia, I’ll post a few recipes for you. I’d never deny an expectant mother a request for a recipe. Especially a potato recipe.
Dan, Reusing the old tires is a great idea. I love how you painted them. I was told to wait a week or two after the vines died back to harvest. I don’t know if it’s different for you because you live farther north.
All potatoes planned for medium and long term storage ought to be harvested at least 14-18 days after vines have died back. During that 2-3 week window the skin thickens and looses moisture. This both minimizes damage from the harvest process and conditions the tuber for the most successful storage. In this way we ship our underground-stored organic seed potatoes for up to nine months after harvest.
Jim@woodprairie