Picking the Year's First Potatoes
My new garden continues to produce bounties of beautiful fresh vegetables. Our latest harvest - potatoes!
Yesterday, before a thunderous rainstorm, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, harvested the season's 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. This season’s “seed potatoes” came from High Mowing Organic Seeds, an independently-owned, farm-based seed company in Wolcott, Vermont.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Every year, we order a selection of potatoes to plant. This is the first year we planted them in my new half-acre garden. I chose two of the largest beds, filled them with nutrient-rich compost and then when everything was ready, planted our seed potatoes. This photo is from late April. It generally takes three to four months to grow potatoes.
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- We also carefully select the potatoes we grow, using the varieties that worked for us in years past. This time, some of the varieties include Burbank russet potatoes, dark red Norland potatoes, Elba potatoes, German butterball potatoes, red Chieftain potatoes, Satina potatoes, Yukon gem potatoes, and Yukon Gold potatoes. Here is Ryan preparing to plant the beds.
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- The potatoes are planted in long trenches that run the entire length of each bed and are about five to six inches deep. Potatoes can be planted in cooler soils at least 40-degrees Fahrenheit. Potatoes perform best in soil with pH levels 4.8 to 5.5. Potatoes are easy to grow as long as they have access to full sun and moderate temperatures.
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- These trenches are at least one to two feet apart to give the potato plants ample room to develop. Here, Ryan backfills the trenches, fully covering the potatoes at least four-inches. Potatoes do best in well-drained, loose soil, and consistent moisture. Little maintenance is needed from this point – just watering.
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- Here is one of the potato beds a month later.
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- By the end of June, the bed is full of growth and green foliage. The potato grows up to 40 inches tall. As the potato plant grows, its compound leaves manufacture starch that is transferred to the ends of its underground stems or stolons. The stems thicken to form a few or as many as 20 tubers close to the soil surface – those are the potatoes.
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- Here is another photo of the potato beds this summer – so lush and green.
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- And just yesterday, they looked like this. 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 potatoes are ready once 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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- Here is Ryan picking a gold potato – they are all looking great.
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- It’s important to dig them up carefully, so as not to damage any of the tubers. All these are from one plant.
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- Ryan digs deep into the ground and feels around for potatoes – 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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- Because potatoes grow underground, it is always a surprise to see how prolific the plants have been. As the potatoes are picked, they’re placed in separate containers or trug buckets by color. Some of them will be medium-sized, while others will be much smaller, or much larger.
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- There are more than 200 varieties of potatoes sold throughout the United States. Each of these varieties fit into one of seven potato type categories: russet, red, white, yellow, blue/purple, fingerling, and petite.
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- All of these potatoes were picked within the first 15-minutes. Ryan picks as many as he can before the expected rain – the rest will wait for the next dry day giving them more time to grow.
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- This batch is brought to the small hoop house next to my head house, where they can be placed in single layers in trays and crates to dry.
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- 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.
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- Another tip – never wash potatoes until right before using – washing them shortens the potato’s storage life.
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- And also, don’t store potatoes 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. I hope your weekend is filled with bounties of delicious produce from your gardens.
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