Potato growing question?

[nao57]

Thank you. They certainly tasted great! My mother was German, and she would fry the potatoes with oil, onions and a pinch of sugar, not to sweeten them, but to encourage them to caramelize.

Since you mention it, Germans have always eaten more potatoes than the French. Why do we call them French Fries instead of German Fries?

 

[Jenbirdee]

I’ve been doing Ruth Stout and No Dig method gardening for potatoes the last two years and I made YouTube videos about it.

I plan to dig a few new potatoes up soon. We’ll see how it affects the plants I’ll make another video.

 

[MROO]

Thank you very much to all of you. The comments you replied with were all very rewarding and interesting. its always interesting to hear other peoples experiences!

If you're worried about disturbing deep roots, add some soil to the top every few weeks. You'll get a new layer of smaller potatoes in each layer, while the ones at the bottom will be big bakers by the time Fall rolls around. I've actually grown them in old trash cans (with holes in the bottom for drainage.) I planted them in about a foot of soils and added more to the can each time the plants got to be about 6 inches high. Harvest was easy - we just dumped the trash can into the main garden. The next time I do it, it'll be right next to the main bed - that sucker was SO heavy to move!

 

[MROO]

Since you mention it, Germans have always eaten more potatoes than the French. Why do we call them French Fries instead of German Fries?

I can answer that! DD's bestie went to culinary school! It's because the original ones we "julienne" them - the French term for "shoe-stringing.". And did you know that the secret to making "perfect" homemade french fries is to soak them in water first? It removes the excess starch from the outside. That starch keeps them from crisping properly, which is why most home-cut fries are so mushy.
Sometimes info from "The Tree Of Useless Knowledge" comes in handy!

 

[Charlie Wooster]

Tater plants take early and regular maintenance, or “hillin”.. regularly hillin soil up on the base of the plants will help them spread out early instead of producing deeper taters they are more shallow and grow horizontal. You can grow taters anywhere (laundry baskets, buckets, boxes) but there’s nothing like the original method if you maintain them. Make a Tater bed first, very deep loose organic soil, then cut your rows leaving a wide area of deep soil between rows, plant seed Taters in shallow rows allow plants to get 8-10 inches tall 12 inches max before hillin first time, then bury all the plant except for just the top 4-6 leaves, do this weekly pulling the loose soil from the wide area of loose soil, it will create a taller row of plants with wider and wider rows each week.. giving the tubers a space to spread out side to side instead of straight down. Making it much easier to fork out early Taters and not wait until plants are spent to dig em.. so in short, taters should have plenty of room in a designated spot and keep em maintained for easy early harvesting and a more bountiful harvest overall..

 

[kbroom]

Since you mention it, Germans have always eaten more potatoes than the French. Why do we call them French Fries instead of German Fries?

Don't know the answer to why they're not called French fries, maybe the shape was decided by a Frenchman?

 

[MROO]

Don't know the answer to why they're not called French fries, maybe the shape was decided by a Frenchman?

They were originally called "frenched fries," because they were julienned in the classic French style, It sure does roll off the tongue more easily than "julienne fries!"

 

[Acre4Me]

Tater plants take early and regular maintenance, or “hillin”.. regularly hillin soil up on the base of the plants will help them spread out early instead of producing deeper taters they are more shallow and grow horizontal. You can grow taters anywhere (laundry baskets, buckets, boxes) but there’s nothing like the original method if you maintain them. Make a Tater bed first, very deep loose organic soil, then cut your rows leaving a wide area of deep soil between rows, plant seed Taters in shallow rows allow plants to get 8-10 inches tall 12 inches max before hillin first time, then bury all the plant except for just the top 4-6 leaves, do this weekly pulling the loose soil from the wide area of loose soil, it will create a taller row of plants with wider and wider rows each week.. giving the tubers a space to spread out side to side instead of straight down. Making it much easier to fork out early Taters and not wait until plants are spent to dig em.. so in short, taters should have plenty of room in a designated spot and keep em maintained for easy early harvesting and a more bountiful harvest overall..

This is true for indeterminate types. I learned there are determinate and indeterminate potatoes. I contacted the company I bought some seed potatoes from to see if I had determinate or indeterminate bc this is not info typically provided plus, a determinate type won’t keep producing like an indeterminate/hilled repeatedly type will.

One year I did the wide rows, hilling them repeatedly, but harvest was same for all 4 varieties. This was the year before I learned about the determinate, indeterminate differentiation in potatoes. Although, I have to say that year the potatoes grew very very well and bloomed for an extended period. No, they were not fertilized with nitrogen, which would cause leaf, but not tubers.

This year, we planted 4 varieties, no hilling, with removal of easy to access potatoes for cooking that day. Plants remain healthy-although now they are dying back as expected. The individual potatoes look good, but as far as quantity, it’s hard to say. But I’d say at least average or better.

 

[nao57]

SO true! They used to call them "Victory" gardens. I like to grow those small red potatoes sometimes called, "new" potatoes. You can throw them into soups, cut them and fries them up with some onions (yum), and don't even have to peel them, especially if you've grown them at home, and KNOW what has been around them. Potatoes should be a stalk garden plant, along with beans, corn, and greens. I actually grow curly dock that I took from a nearby field, and cultivated in a large pot with great dirt. We also collected cow paddies from a neighbor's field. That certainly helps with the fertilizer. Usually, when I harvest a potato plant, that's pretty much it. Just get some more potato "seeds" or allow your potatoes to grow "eyes," then cut as many pieces as possible that have them. Plant them about two week apart, so that you'll always have some growing. I think cow dung is the best for potatoes. Uh, regarding the cucumber, it's possible that you're right about it signaling the plant to grow more. I've named my LARGE cucumber plant FEED ME! I haven't even counted how many cucumbers I've gotten this year, but my fridge is full, I eat some every morning, and sometimes in the evening as well. All our friends and neighbors have also had a bag or two also... My husband likes to go out and check her to see if she's given anymore goodies!

This is really beautiful to see those pics. Thank you for showing that.