Greengirls » Blog Archive

Potato season

Posted on September 12th, 2007 – 9:50 AM
By Jaime Chismar

Early June I planted my heirloom potatoes. They are seriously the easiest veggie to grow, just dig a hole and wait three months. Even if the Colorado Potato Beetle finds your garden, potatoes are so hardy, they can produce impressive yields with just a third of their foliage.

One little seed potato can produce a dozen larger potatoes in a season. Some varieties of fingerling potatoes can produce over two dozen twisty tubers.

Each variety has their own distinct flavor. Crescent fingerlings taste slightly like peanuts. Reds and Purples are earthy. Sunday, we feasted on creamy German Butterballs, my favorite baking potato. They keep for several months in the fridge, but I having a feeling that my supply will be gone by October.

Do you grow potatoes? What are your favorites?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 at 9:50 am and is filed under Potatoes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Responses to "Potato season"

kiwi9mm says:

September 12th, 2007 at 2:17 pm

Yukon Gold and Katadrin (heirloom variety) get first dibs in my garden. They are the first to be planted along with the onions in late April to early May; they can stand a hint of frost early on in the season. We’ve been feasting on them since mid-July. They are great on the grill sliced thin with a sprinkle of Lawry’s and a glob of butter, cooked sandwiched between a layer of tin foil sprayed with nonstick spray.

For the first time ever, I had potatoe beetles this year - I squished as many as I could find but am sure the buggers will be back. Any hints on how to get rid of these particularly large pests??

Jim Gerritsen says:

September 13th, 2007 at 6:11 am

Our family raises Certified Organic seed potatoes in northern Maine and ships them all over the country from our webstore (www.woodprairie.com). Megan’s favorite is also Yukon Gold. I like best the Canadian variety Rose Gold, the Carola from Germany, and the century heirloom Rose Finn Apple. One week from now we will begin digging our crop when the schools up here will close down for the three week Harvest Break. Our get our kids help plus we hire about twenty 12-13 year olds to help us harvest. We ship potatoes out of underground storage from September until July 4th. Potatoes are easy to grow and like a treasure hunt for kids. You can’t find the best potato varieties in the grocery stores. You have to grow them yourself or maybe buy them from a farmers market. It’s a lot of fun. Jim

Jaime Chismar says:

September 13th, 2007 at 10:36 am

Hey Jim! The first time I ever tried heirloom potatoes I was a student at a documentary school in Portland, Maine. Everyone was talking about the potato farmers. Many had turned down a big contract with McDonalds to grow Russet potatoes for french fries. Instead, they stuck to their heirlooms. I can’t wait to check out your site!

Jaime Chismar says:

September 13th, 2007 at 10:41 am

Hey kiwi9mm — Potato beetles are evil. Robyn had one hell of a time this summer trying to keep her beetle population under control.

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