Potato harvest

[pintail_drake2004]

Well, we sat out to grow a years supply of potatoes. I think we did well. Now, the real work begins. With a hand injury, I won't be planting a 2nd crop or a fall garden like we normally do. Over 170 pounds harvested.

 

[Sally PB]

Excellent! What varieties did you plant? I see different colors.

 

[pintail_drake2004]

We usually plant Yukon gold, Pontiac Red, and kennebec. We will can a lot of these, keep 30-40 pounds for next seasons seed potatoes, and have some fresh.

 

[Insnesnakos]

So many potatoes! How do you store all of them?

 

[pintail_drake2004]

Some we will keep "fresh" after they cure. Most will be canned, dried, or processed and frozen.

 

[nao57]

I'd suggest you do a 2nd round if you can. I know you have a lot already. But there's so much crap going on. Where I'm at ground beef price is double what it should. Potatoes being sold in stores are now much more expensive than they should be. Its very frustrating.

People are also finding family members and relatives are suddenly coming home and needing place to stay also, which is using more food than they normally would use.

 

[nao57]

It seems to me like the red pontiac potatoes are faster to bud than the typical idahoan variteties. Have others noticed this too?

And what soil mixtures would you recommend for growing potatoes? I'm also having to combat clay soil. And the clay soil glues in the potatoes.

 

[pintail_drake2004]

For us, we start now chitting our potatoes. In a few weeks, we will have nice stubby green sprouts ready to plant. Since we have our potato plot in an old horse pasture, things are compacted down and not much top soil left. We have amended this by planting cover crops annually, adding tons of organic matter, and literally 12 tons of compost (I buy 8 tons at a time). After 3 years of amending this plot, we have seen a huge difference in the soil structure. Our potatoes are able to grow nice and plump without being concreted into the soil.

 

[akroberts1085]

I can only hope my potatoes do good. Last year I got about 3 pounds of potatoes. This year I planted Yukon Gold Red potatoes and russet potatoes. I forgot a russet potato seed from last year but I have a lot of green coming up. I just hope I get a good harvest of potatoes this year.

 

[Sally PB]

We need to eat up the potatoes we have down in the basement...