Wow, hard to believe you'll have potatoes so soon! But of course I planted mine extremely late. We've had no rain. I have an irrigation system, but the forecast has said rain for almost a week straight so I haven't turned it on thinking it'll rain, and then it doesn't. Today I finally turned it on. The potato garden I have to use a water hose and I've only watered it once.
I just found this thread. I'm in zone 5b, last frost date is usually mid-May. I plant potatoes after that, usually around Memorial Day. This last summer, I planted three types: Kennebec (my stand by), Caribou (new to me), and Elba (also new to me, and supposed to have excellent blight resistance). All white/russet variety.
The biggest producer was Elba, followed by Kennebec, then Caribou. I had the biggest potato harvest EVER, and have gobs of all three still in my basement that look like I just dug them, minus the dirt. The basement is probably 50-55 degrees, and I have them in a large cardboard box.
I leave them in the ground until there is a threat of heavy frost/freeze warning. The plants have usually died back so much I have to mark where they were so I know where to dig. I had a very few that had rotten spots, but it looked like something had gnawed on them. A bigger problem was the heavy rain in late summer; the Elbas especially look like they had a huge growth spurt on the tubers, at the opposite end from the stolen, when they are attached to the plant. They're fine, but have some weird wrinkles and indentations. I can water if needed, but I can't keep them from getting soaked.
One other thing I did that I will do again: I planted a lot of onions in with the potatoes. I didn't see any potato beetles at all, and I also had the best onion harvest ever. I still have some of those in a cardboard box in the basement too.
Glad to hear good things about the potato onions. I just got some starts this last October, so we'll see how they do. I have Egyptian Walking Onions (second year last summer) that exploded with topsets! The onions I dug were small, but wow, talk about strong flavor!
Let's hear it for growing your own food!
I also buy green onions once or twice a year and re plant the white parts. If left alone they can grow a decent sized bulb, about the size of a golf ball. Usually I just keep reharvesting the tops. I actually don’t think I’ve bought any since spring of last year.
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80%... that's a fantastic goal! Good for you! I'm aiming for 50%, realizing that may or may not be attainable this year. ("May or may not"... well, that covers it! What other option is there?
Chickens were a big step forward. Mostly for eggs, a source of protein, but also for poop to enrich the soil. I had the BEST compost this year. None of it will go to waste, either, as I have one garden that is very sandy, and one that is clay. Compost helps with both. The potatoes are in the sandy garden.
That's interesting about regrowing green onions. I might give that a try.
so most of the goes to waste! I scoop it from the poop board and dump it in a pile outside.
