Potatoes

I wasn't expecting to harvest potatoes. I was just weeding the bed (isn't organic farming glamorous?) when I noticed some potatoes peeking up above the soil. I had noticed that the potato plants were starting to die back (sure sign that potatoes are ready for harvest) but chose to ignore it.

So, I grabbed my pitchfork and dug up a single plant since I didn't have time to dig them all up. As you can see from the picture above, I got a few pounds of potatoes from this single plant. This variety is Fingerling, one of my favorites for roasting. We also planted some blue potatoes.

Growing potatoes is pretty easy. Here is a link to a good article on growing potatoes. Plant them in early spring in deep trenches and use the hilling method to add dirt over time. In other words, dig a trench two feet deep and drop the potatoes in. Cover with a few inches of soil. Then, when the potato sprouts and sends up green shoots, cover with more dirt. Repeat several times until you have a hill. This will protest the stem of the plant, but more importantly, greatly increase the productivity of the plant and give you a lot more potatoes.

Potatoes get harvested when the plant dies back. Use a pitchfork and try to be careful not to stab the tuber. In reality, this is difficult and you can expect to have a few potatoes come up on the tongs of your pitchfork. Use these potatoes right away or they will rot. Karen says harvesting potatoes is like Christmas because it's a surprise with each pitchfork full.

Potatoes are very susceptible to pests. The potato beetle is the most common. There are organic controls, but I have had only marginal success with them. The most effective way to control the beetles is by picking them off the plant one by one and crushing them between you thumb and forefinger. Or you can drop them in a glass of soapy water. Like I said, organic gardening is very glamorous.