Potatoes-- Final Harvest, Final Thoughts

I dug up the second and final potato bed yesterday, and was rewarded with about 2 dozen large red potatoes.

I don't know if any harvest can be compared to that of the potato-- it's like a treasure hunt. You have to dig through cubic feet of dirt, never knowing exactly when, where, or how many potatoes you will find.

There's a real joy in pulling a big old spud out of the dirt, knowing that that patch of dirt could just as easily have been barren.

Today, I peeled and chopped nearly half of them so that Kim can make Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie tonight. This is her first stab at the recipe, but it sure sounds good.

I'm know I didn't do this whole potato-growing thing just right. My yield was only about 4 potatoes for every plant, which seems a little low. If I had to guess, I'd say I didn't fertilize to maximize growth.

To grow the potatoes, I followed the online tutorial of farmer Doug Smitty over at www.expertvillage.com. Smitty's dedication to the professionalism of the video makes it charming, even adorable.

I cut my potatoes and allowed them to heal over. I dug my trenches. I hilled diligently, mounding the soil up over the plants to provide more space for roots to grow. The potatoes were one of the first things I planted, and at the time, I had no compost yet that was suitable for spreading. So they basically were planted in plain old dirt. I did amend them a bit later with some minerals and a mulchy dressing, but probably not as much as I should have. When the plants died down, I knew they were ready for harvesting.

I saw an interesting potato-growing method over at "The Gorham Garden" (http://gorhamgarden.blogspot.com/). The basic idea was to plant the potatoes inside heavy-duty garbage bags. The black plastic keeps the soil warmer, and harvesting is easier. Still, something about surrounding your plants with plastic is a little off-putting. I might give it a whirl someday.

So, as a "note to self" for next time-- duplicate this year's method, but be sure to use a nice, rich compost in the soil in the first place. Add more fertilizer with each hilling. Plant them on a much larger scale, with staggered plantings to create a long harvesting period. And, most importantly, get ahold of some of these heritage seed potatoes I hear so much about.

This year, I got my seed potatoes from the local farmer's union, and the lack of selection is a turnoff. I guess if you're a real farmer, you're just trying to get grow what most people buy-- Russet, Red, and Yukons, for the most part. But a home gardener can afford to be more experimental, and I will definitely take advantage of that luxury at the next opportunity.

Mother Earth News ran an article recently about banks of seed potatoes that represent literally hundreds of different strains, each with their own peculiarities. That's what I want for next time.