seed potatoes arrived

My seed potatoes arrived in the mail today. I have to get their bed ready and get them planted - next weekend.

potato order

I just ordered my seed potatoes. Fedco/Moose Tubers has a nice selection of "Keepers" that includes: German Butterball, Katahdin, Elba, Red Pontiac, and Russet Burbank. 2 1/2 lbs of each for only $19. Can't beat it. I'll pick of a few blues at the supermarket to add to my planting.

fried potatoes

I can't do much gardening now, but I'm cooking and eating my produce. Today's recipe is fried potatoes. I found, then lost, a recipe online that worked great.

Standard potatoes: russets, blues, etc.
Sweet potatoes
Canola oil

1- Scrub and cut standard potatoes (whites, yellows and/or blues, leave skin on). Rinse in cold water, then soak 5 or more minutes in cold water.
2- Heat oil to 210-230*F.
3- Dry soaked potatoes on towel, then fry about 10 minutes in preheated oil. Remove to paper towel and let cool.
4- Increase oil temperature to 265*F.
5- Scrub and cut the sweet potatoes (leave skin on).
6- Add all potatoes (sweets and standards to the oil. Fry 5-10 minutes til nicely browned. Add salt and enjoy!

digging potatoes

Freshly dug potatoes! I grew 4 varieties this year: Cobbler, All Blue, Green Mountain, and Rio Grande Russet. The Blue potatoes produced very well and are a nice purple color. My favorite is probably the Russets, which grill very nicely.

I only harvested about 1/10th the amount of potatoes of last year's harvest. This year, I planted in a very shady bed in my home garden. Mostly because of last year's late blight problems, I decided to remove all late blight susceptible plants from my community garden. Next year I am looking forward to growing potatoes in full sun again.

a happier potato story

I went out and dug a bit in my garden just now. What a relief to find a bunch of nice potatoes!

From one All Blue plant, I found 4 potatoes. The other plant I dug was a Green Mountain (I think, though can't remember for sure). Three big potatoes from that plant. The yields are low because the bed gets sun from noon-3. With so little sun, I'm really glad to get this many. And they are so pretty!

And no critter damage!

Yippee!!

a sad story about potatoes

Yesterday I visited my parents and we dug potatoes from their garden. We were looking forward this. But we didn't have very good luck :(

Dad dug, I sifted through the soil and grabbed the potatoes, and Mom washed them. But there were hardly any. And the ones we did find were half eaten! Another critter! Its too bad. They had little tiny tooth marks and very large portions of the potatoes were missing.

I thought the critter was maybe a mole. My sister suggested a pocket gopher might be more likely to eat potatoes. She says moles are more likely to eat worms and other insects. What the heck is a pocket gopher? Are there gophers in Massachusetts? And why didn't we have at least a hint there was an animal down there eating or potatoes?

Rodents eating vegetables seems to be a garden theme for me this year....

seed potatoes arrived

I got a big box in the mail today - seed potatoes from Moose Tubers! Its a busy week in the garden.

potato order placed

I meant to order these a few weeks ago, but didn't actually do it. Now the order is placed - the day after the discounts ended :( I'm excited about the varieties I found though. Three of the four show resistance to late blight!! I should have had these last year. I got only 4 orders - last year I got 5 and this was a bit too much.

Here are the Moose Tubers' catalog descriptions:

Irish Cobbler Early. Buff skin, white flesh. Slightly larger than a golf ball, great for roasting or mashing, with a smooth creamy texture. Legend has it that an Irish shoemaker in the northeastern United States selected this variety from plants he grew from an Early Rose seed ball. First cataloged in 1876. Even dug early, Cobblers will store throughout the season. Resistant to mild mosaic and immune to wart. Medium-sized plant has white-tipped lilac flowers.

All Blue Mid-season. Dark purple skin, purple flesh. Russian Blue is another name for this brilliantly loud specialty spud. Keeps its color when cooked, yields aplenty, and stores decently. Mildly resistant to late blight, hollow heart, second growth and shatter bruise. Susceptible to common scab, bacterial ring rot, and golden nematode. Vigorous plants with blue blossoms. LBR.

Butte Late. Medium russet skin, white flesh. For all you fungal watchdogs out there, here is another variety field-resistant to late blight. A fine russeted pattern details the bronzed skin of the mealy white-fleshed Butte. Versatile in the kitchen, try it baked, fried, smashed, hashed, or whatever. All winter long! Released in 1977 from Idaho. Also resistant to common scab, hollow heart, and net necrosis. Produces best with wide spacing (16–18''), fertile soil, and regular watering. LBR.

Green Mountain. Late. Buff skin, white flesh Largely displaced from commercial potato seed circulation, this variety is the number-one pick for blight resistance. An outstanding heirloom that’s also just right for baking; so dig them once and keep the oven on all winter long. Its nice appearance and great flavor don’t fade in storage. Somewhat liable to succumb to pest damage and viral diseases, but show resistance to fusarium storage rot, black leg, and verticillium wilt. LBR.

(LBR means late blight resistance.)

All are new varieties for me except Green Mountain, which I grew last year and loved. It has fantastic crisp pure white flesh and keeps great. Last year I grew a different Russet (Rio Grande) which was great, but picked Butte this year for the LBR. I've heard Irish Cobbler recommended for its flavor. And I really looking forward to the blue potatoes to perk things up!