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| Four, seven-gallon bags of potatoes in the background. A typical potato in the foreground. |
Today's project was to start digging potatoes.
The corn crop was a total zero. Raccoons and deer hammered every single stalk/ear.
BUT!!!! The potatoes vastly exceed expectations. God sent rains at precisely the right times. I only watered once.
I have only harvested 80 feet of row -to date- and have 150 pounds of potatoes. Big, beautiful, clean, smooth potatoes. Kennebec potatoes, to be exact. The dirt is cheerfully giving up its bounty. While the corn crop was an abysmal failure it was offset by the stunning potato crop.
I planted 270 feet of row of potatoes and while I don't expect to stay on-pace at almost two-pounds-per-foot of row, it will still be A LOT of potatoes.
And then there is the "volunteer" patch. I did not harvest all of the potatoes I planted last year. They came bounding out of the ground and undoubtedly made potatoes with no effort on my part. (OK, I lied. I did fertilize them and sprayed them once for potato beetles. I am not going to screw-over anything that works so hard for my advantage). That might add another 50% to my harvest.
And that, my faithful readers, is why it does not pay to put all of your eggs in one basket.
Congrats! Now for some potato recipes!
ReplyDeleteGreat harvest Joe. I hope I get a good one also but I know it won't be that good this year. Have Kennebec always been a good plant for you?. ---ken
ReplyDeleteKen, I must confess to being a total slut with regard to potato varieties. I lean toward late varieties and varieties with high specific gravity. But I have very little loyalty.
DeleteIn general, in my climate and soil, Kennebecs have been good looking potatoes and Mrs ERJ says they meet her expectations for flavor.
I just got a bushel basket full of nice potatoes & I reckon I'm going to make twice baked potatoes, freeze them then vacuum seal them & freeze again. Only way I see keeping them long enough to use them.
ReplyDeletePotatoes have kept many civilizations alive for many generations.
ReplyDeleteGrand plan on the grand child!
ReplyDeleteWow, great harvest, good looking potatoes. I’ve used Kennebec a couple times and like them a lot.
ReplyDeleteI’m lazy, and this year I planted supermarket potatoes that were old and sprouted. I only planted 7 planter pots, and got 12 lbs of potatoes. The extras I had I put in a short row, about 8 ft,
and the darned voles dug in and ate all but one. Grrrrr.
Southern NH