Potatoes
We started the potatoes in trenches
To grow potatoes, we first purchased seed potatoes, cut them in quarters, let them dry, then planted them in a trench.
Potato trench filled in
As the potatoes grow, we gradually fill in the soil. This puts the potatoes below the surface.
You can tell by the distinctive blossom that potatoes are part of the nightshade family.
Potatoes growing in a pot
To save garden space, we tried growing them in a pot, putting it on the end of the garden path.
Potatoes growing in a barrel
We also tried growing them in a homemade "barrel", in other words, a barrel formed with fencing and lined with plastic garbage bags.
We probably wouldn't do this again because it now doesn't seem like a good idea to have our food growing in plastic.
Potato foliage matures
The potato foliage is getting yellow and maturing. It's time to harvest!
Harvesting the potations is fun. It's like looking for buried treasure.
We also like harvesting the small "new" potatoes at the beginning of the season.
"Regular" potatoes are pretty easy to grow. (We've grown the Yukon Gold variety.) They're pretty prolific considering we planted just a few potatoes.
What we'd like to grow are sweet potatoes, though. We tried them one year, but they just don't do well this far north.
It's important to dry vegetables such as potatoes before storing them.
Potatoes in a box
We used our old cedar fence pieces to create a box to put on the path adjacent to the driveway—previously underused space. Not only is this method space-efficient, but we filled it with compost so there's no stones to interfere with the development of the potatoes (though this is a more important consideration with the carrots.
As the book Eating on the Wild Side suggested, we're now growing blue potatoes.
Harvest record
YR | LB | Notes |
15 | Again growing blue potatoes in boxes | |
14 | 24 | Our first year growing in boxes; blue potatoes |
13 | x | (We didn't grow any) |
12 | x | (We didn't grow any) |
11 | 24 | We're looking for a way to grow potatoes that doesn't take up so much room |
10 | 29 | |
09 | 41 |