Hello, steemians, and welcome to da garden, eh!
Today turned out to be a pretty decent day, it got up into the 60s and it didn't rain. It was pretty much overcast all day, but at least it didn't rain. It seemed like a good day to dig up the rest of the red potatoes, so that's what I did. I had previously dug up about a row and a half out of the four rows prior to today, as I needed them. I wanted to get them all out of the ground today, because I still have to dig all the yellow potatoes in the next couple of weeks before the ground starts to freeze.
The first thing I did was to finish digging the row that was half dug.
That half a row didn't do too badly for amount of decent size potatoes. There was a few big ones also.
Then it was on to the other 2 rows. These rows are a couple of feet shorter than the other 2 rows, plus one end was partially shaded this last summer by the apple tree and the grape vines.
I started on the end opposite the apple tree. Not too bad for 1 plant, eh?
It took me a while to get the row dug, I have to work slow to make it easier on my back, but I got it done.
I got a nice bucket full of potatoes from that row. I dumped the bucket into the left side of the screen to dry off a bit.
A pretty good harvest so far.
After taking a break from digging, I got back to work on the last row. I didn't get quite as many potatoes from the last row, they were smaller on the end under the apple tree. Full sunlight does make a difference in your harvest.
After getting all the potatoes dug up, I decided that I might as well wash the dirt off them to get them ready for storage. I have a cheap laundry sink outside that I use for stuff like this. It comes in handy because it's less of a mess this way. I filled a bucket about a third of the way with potatoes and then put enough water in the bucket to cover the potatoes. Then I sloshed the bucket around to get most of the dirt off the potatoes. Then I dumped the bucket into the screen that I have on top of the sink to catch the potatoes. Then I rinse them a bit more with the watering can and let them sit for a few minutes to drip while I'm doing another batch of potatoes in the bucket. Then I take the potatoes out of the screen and repeat the process until all the potatoes are washed.
After I was done washing the potatoes, I needed a place to put them to let them dry overnight. I decided to put the big sifting screen across the big pots in the greenhouse and put the potatoes in there to dry. With the screen, the air can get under the potatoes for better drying. I wanted to do it in the greenhouse because I know it won't freeze in there if the temperature drops overnight.
They should all be dry tomorrow and I'll be able to bring them into the basement and put them in the refrigerator down there for storage. These early red Norland potatoes are not a good winter keeper, you have to have them at about 38 degrees for them to last more than a couple of months without starting to sprout and get soft. With storing them in the refrigerator, they should last several months, long enough to eat them all.
Well, that's all I have for this post, I hope you found it interesting!
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my post, eh!
giddy up !!!! gotta love some fresh taters !!!!
I love it -thanks for explain g the process. I was wondering about them getting soft and sprouting - then you explained it. Sometimes I wish I was not living in the city but I once planted potators in a large flower pot. 😀 I would prefer a backyard though.
Thanks for the in-depth writing on your process of harvesting your potatoes.
They are the one vegetable I have not been successful in growing thus far - I live on a slate-filled mountain with very poor soil. I am considering attempting to grow some in buckets of composted soil to see if I yield a better result!
I think the soil conditions are always important for potatoes. The like to grow in a loose soil, but compost works really well also. I've had them growing in my compost pile in the past.
Raised beds work well for potatoes if you have any of them. Also, if you're going to raise them in buckets, try to use the biggest buckets that you can get to give the potatoes room to grow. Also make sure that the buckets have good drainage. Potatoes like a lot of water, but do poorly in mud.
I do have a couple of raised beds/boxes that I think might be perfect for the job, once I remove the last of the watermelon plants I have in there from the summer. They are still growing new baby melons!
These boxes were built without a bottom/floor so good for drainage as you've mentioned. Thank you for suggesting that, I think they will work better in those than in buckets after all! I just need to find some good quality seed potatoes now...
Yes, good seed potatoes do help because they're usually certified disease free. I have planted potatoes that I had from the previous year, but they tend to get scab easier than the certified seed potatoes.
That's good to know, thanks for the heads up. If I find some nice ones I shall post about my growing process too!
Trying to figure out how to store my potato harvest this year. A fridge in the garage might work for me. What's the temp of your fridge set at? I've got purple potatoes and yukon golds... since this is the first year I've had a decent harvest I want to be sure I can keep them into the winter for as long as I can.
I set the temperature in the storage fridge to as close to 38 degrees as I can get it. If it's much colder, the potatoes start to convert the starches to sugars and that can give a weird taste to the potatoes. Too much warmer and the potatoes don't last as long before they start to sprout. I would say that somewhere between 38 and 40 would be good.
The Yukon Gold potatoes are about the best keeping potatoes that I've grown so far. They'll keep most of the winter at 45 degrees, which was as cold as I could get the insulated corner of the basement that I used for storage in the past.
great advice! I'll have to figure out how to keep the fridge in the garage at that temp... does the humidity matter a huge deal?
I'm not real sure about the humidity. I usually don't worry about it. I think you probably don't want it too humid because that might encourage mold to grow.