Alongside bananas, I think that potatoes are the most fabulously exciting things that I have ever grown in the garden. I adore every stage of the potato - the first peep of the foliage from the soil, the beautiful fat green leaves in full growth, and of course, the digging around for treasure at the end of the journey. Every vegetable gardener knows the great thrill of the potato hunt.
And for some reason, where in my garden many, many, many, other vegetables fail, potatoes triumph. And so, this year, I have gone absolutely wild and have now planted around 60.
By my calculations, at around 5 potatoes per plant, we could end up with around 300 potatoes.
And I am not finished yet.
As you can see in the photos, I have staggered my planting. The top ones only just emerged a few days ago, whereas the bottom ones are only around a month away from harvesting I would say. The middle ones shot up so fast that I haven't had a chance to mound up the soil around them.
I also plan to plant out another 15 - 20 in a space I have along the side of the house, and then another 10 - 20 as an experiment to see if they will help to break up some particularly hard-packed soil.
I think it is quite clear that I am a dead serious potato farmer.
And because I know that Mark will want to know, so far I have planted 3 different types of potatoes. Purple ones, cream ones and white ones.
Oh boy that's funny.
18 comments:
I admire your potatoness Miss Ali. But if you think "purple, cream and white' is going to satisfy Mr Willis I think you will be disappointed...he would expect full latin names as well as the variety name...colours won't cut it. I can't wait to plant more tatties...I have to wait till later in the year I think...although I have seen seed potatoes for sale.
Very exciting stuff, but 5 per plant? That doesn't sound like very many. I don't think I'm going to get very far in achieving potato self-sufficiency in my small yard then. Maybe I should stick to your special 4th variety. They seem to multiplying on the floor of the kids' playroom with no effort at all :)
Ooo 500m2 I said 5 per plant but I am really hoping for much higher yields! But I don't want to blather on about getting 10 or 15 per plant in case that doesn't happen. So no fear - self sufficient away!
And yes, the fourth variety is a favourite of mine :)
Hazel - I know! I just couldn't help myself though, and I really do know the varieties... I think :D
What?! No Red Potatoes?
Lovely pics!
Jeepers, my 5 seed spuds wont do then will they...Im a gonna chuck a few more in ....you will have potatoes in your garden now FOREVER...planting them everywhere...they will just keep coming up and you will find treasure everywhere you dig for years to come....yay! I even have 1960's potatoe heads at my house...I may even dig them, get it, dig them out and dress them up just for you Ali...yes, yes, I know, small things amuse small minds....
I've only got 4 potatoes planted and 3 have popped up some greenery. Definitely hoping for a bountiful harvest but think I might need to plant some more to keep up with you Ali. I would prefer to be growing bananas tho., still paying $14 a kilo for them.
Good luck with your potatoes. I grew them in large bushel baskets last year and there was no digging involved to harvest them. Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment this morning. Enjoy the garden today.
Hah! If I was the sort of person to take offence, I'd be offended! But there is no such thing as bad publicity they say, so thanks for the link Ali. I do certainly want to know what varieties of potato you are growing - "purple, white and cream" is definitely not enough detail. Latin? Are potatoes not all "Solanum tuberosum"?
I'm just about to harvest my first ones of the year. I reckon the last week of June is right for that. Not expecting a huge harvest, because mine are all in pots (of which I have 21), but I would hope that each pot will yield enough to feed two people for one meal - maybe 8 - 10 smallish tubers?
Do what you do do well..and it seems spuds is it..we grew some last year..great things for children to grow well harvest really they love that bit.. like hazel i have noticed seed spuds in the stores..i'm not gunna buy them in the fancy box this year ..i'm just gunna throw in some supermarket ones that go to seed
I love po-taters, and hope to grow more this next season than we did our first time around, because they are crisp and amazing when you eat them freshly picked! This time I will hill them up more too...
(I mean, I cook them first, don't just start eating them fresh up out of the ground!! They are crisp when you cut them, is what I mean!!)
Oh yes Dixibelle, fresh from the ground I'm sure they'd pack quite a punch!
Lol, a crunch, not a punch!
Harvesting vegatables is always a treat. But "digging around for treasure" you are right, it's a quite exciting. And kids seem to love it. As a child my family and I visited a friends farm. We all gave them a hand picking potatoes. The memory is a enjoyable one.
Oh my gosh!! Potatoes all round. Did you buy special spuds to plant out???
That is an ambitious project you have going there, Ali! Do you have a good place to store them??
Love the little bowled over Mr. Potato Head! (I think he's clearly overwhelmed!) ;-)
I bet one is Sebago(?)
Mal the purple ones are Royal Blue, the cream ones are Dutch Cream (and my favourite) and I must admit that I don't know what the white ones are called, nor do I remember where I got them from!
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