Picking the First Batch of Potatoes
My garden continues to produce bounties of beautiful fresh vegetables.
This week, my gardeners Ryan McCallister and Gavin Curran harvested the first batch of potatoes. Potatoes are from the perennial nightshade Solanum tuberosum. As the world's fourth-largest food crop, following maize, wheat, and rice, potatoes are grown from “seed potatoes”, which are certified disease-free and specially grown in nurseries for planting purposes. Our “seed potatoes” came from Irish Eyes Garden Seeds, a small family-owned business in Ellensburg, Washington. Every year, we pick many healthy potatoes in a variety of shapes, colors, and tastes. I'm looking forward to sharing all of them with Alexis, Jude, Truman and our many friends this fall.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Here are two of the three long beds of potatoes we planted last spring. They are located in the back of the main vegetable garden.
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- This is definitely a less attractive sight in the garden, but it is a well-anticipated one because it means the potatoes are ready.
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- The best time to dig up potatoes is on a dry day once all the vines have died back – when the tubers are done growing, and the potato plants have begun to turn yellow and withered. This year, because of all the wet weather, the vines still appear green in many places, but the crop is ready for harvest.
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- Using a garden fork, Ryan gently turns the soil. It’s important to dig them up carefully, so as not to puncture any of the tubers. This steel pitchfork is from my collection at QVC. It comes in a handy set of three – shovel, fork, and spade, and in three different colors – mint, gray and black.
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- Ryan starts away from the potatoes and works his way in to safely turn over the soil. Gavin starts from the other end to speed up the process.
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- Once all the soil in the bed is turned, Ryan and Gavin begin digging for potatoes. The two feel for them underground – potatoes will be slightly cool to the touch.
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- It’s fun to dig around the soil and find multiple potatoes waiting to be picked. They are not too deep – any potatoes will only be within the first five-inches of soil.
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- As the potatoes are picked, they’re placed into shallow trays, separated by variety and color. An entire potato plant grows from just one potato eye, although when planting, always plant a piece of potato with at least two eyes to ensure germination. These are ‘Chieftain’ potatoes – a smooth red-skinned slightly oval tuber with shallow eyes and white flesh with very good flavor.
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- Because potatoes grow underground, it is always a surprise to see how prolific the plants have been.
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- Some of them will be medium-sized, while others will be much smaller, or much larger.
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- Here’s Gavin with a good amount of potatoes on this plant. The tubers form around the base of each plant among the roots. Native to the Andes of South America, the potato has become the world’s fourth-largest food crop, following rice, wheat, and maize.
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- These potatoes are very red with white flesh inside.
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- One of our best producers is ‘Defender’ – we grow this variety every year. The potato is oblong with white flesh. It is great for frying and is excellent as a fresh market baker.
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- It’s easy to see how the potatoes are connected to the plant at the root area. They’re very easy to pull off, and often come loose by themselves while digging around them. Leave any green potatoes alone. When potatoes are exposed to light, they turn green, a sign the toxic substance called solanine is developing, which may cause illness if eaten in large quantities.
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- This area also turned up a good amount of potatoes.
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- After flowering, potato plants produce small green fruits that resemble green cherry tomatoes. Here is one of the fruits.
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- Each fruit contains about 300-seeds, but beware – these potato fruits are NOT edible. More precisely, they are poisonous. They contain high amounts of solanine, so be sure to throw all of them away.
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- Ryan and Gavin picked every potato they could find, even the tiniest of them. If not, they may grow into new plants, where they aren’t wanted.
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- This tray is filling quickly with ‘Agata’ potatoes – beautiful yellow skin and yellow flesh and a creamy flavorful texture when roasted, baked or boiled.
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- ‘Dark Red Norland’ potatoes have red skin with shallow eyes and white flesh. It makes excellent potato salad and stores well.
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- And here’s another favorite – ‘Butte’. They’re oblong with white flesh and russeted skin. This variety is noted for having 20-percent higher protein content than most potatoes. It’s also very high in Vitamin C.
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- Here’s Ryan with a good bunch of potatoes. Another tip – never wash potatoes until right before using – washing them shortens the potato’s storage life.
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- And don’t leave harvested potatoes in the sun as excessive heat could cause them to cook. Just brush off as much soil as possible and let them dry in a cool place.
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- Ryan and Gavin harvested two rows of potatoes, and the last row will be harvested later as needed.
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- All the crates of potatoes are ready to go up to my flower room, where they will be stored until ready to cook. Ideally, potatoes should be kept in an environment around 45-50 degrees Fahrenheit. They can be stored in bins, boxes, or even paper bags – just nothing airtight to prevent rotting. And, don’t store with apples – the ethylene gas will cause the potatoes to spoil. In addition, they should never be stored in the refrigerator. We have so many potatoes with even more still in the ground – I can’t wait to try them all.
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