After explaining the way I plant potatoes and the reasons why I like to plant them this way, I thought I should show you how easy it is to harvest when the straw method is used.
This is what I found when I pulled back the straw at the base of a mound where the potato vine had died. There are some potatoes on the top of the soil, and there are some just below soil level.
However, I can harvest them all with just my hands. I don't need any tools, therefore I don't run the risk of nicking any of the potatoes.
Here I am pulling up the vine and harvesting the potatoes still attached. Then I usually run my hands all around the planting area, removing any potatoes I find just below the soil.
See how clean they are? This is a major improvement over the traditional way of planting!
Here's a mound of Yukons- this plant produced more potatoes than the red one.
Isn't this something? I can't help it- I just get such a thrill when I pull back the straw and find all these potatoes where I had just planted one! And I didn't do anything other than put some more straw around them as they grew.
This is certainly my kind of gardening. :-)
This is what I harvested from the early potatoes. It's smaller than last year. I had bugs and field mice that I think affected the harvest. I will leave them in the wheelbarrow for about a week in the warm, dry garage and then put the good ones in the old cooler I have for them to be stored.
Every year is different, though I'm certainly feeling barraged by the mice (voles), cucumber beetles, gophers, deer, and something leaving pinprick holes in the leaves of my beans and potatoes this year.
And speaking of voles...
This is what a number of my potatoes looked like. Ugh.
I was actually surprised that it wasn't more, though. I thought they were using my potato bed as a little 24-hour restaurant.
At least they left more for us.
-Jami
What will you do with all those potatoes?
ReplyDeleteJani great harvest! Could you post more on how you store them?
ReplyDeleteJenelle
We eat them all winter long! I had a link in the post, (must've missed it- I had it cleverly disguised in "good ones in the old cooler" part. I'll learn to be more specific!)
ReplyDeleteHere it is again:
http://www.anoregoncottage.com/2009/02/potatoes-from-my-garden-in-february.html
The pinprick holes in your potato leaves are likely due to flea beetles. They tend to go after the new growth, and once the weather warms up and the plant gets bigger the beetles move on to greener pastures. They can also affect new tomato leaves as well. An organic way to fix them is to sprinkle diatomaceous earth on the leaves and the soil around the plants, but it will need to be reapplied if you have a streak of rainy weather. It's very powdery, so you won't want to apply it on a real windy day, either.
ReplyDeleteHope this helps!