We dug potatoes yesterday. It’s probably the earliest we’ve ever dug them. The vines of the two long rows we planted in the big garden had died back.
Several folks have told us their potatoes rotted in the ground because of the rain we’ve had this summer. Not wanting to take a chance on that happening we decided to go ahead and harvest the potatoes.
The first row was a little disappointing. There were plenty of taters on each end, but the middle portion of the row petered out with only a few here and there.
The second row proved to be much more productive.
Matt used his tractor to roll them out and my that was so much easier than digging them with a shovel or potato digger.
I think potatoes are one of the easiest things to grow. I like dropping potatoes in the beautiful earth in early spring with the hope of summer bounty and I’ve always enjoyed the treasure hunt of finding them once they grow and produce.
We plan to can some of our potatoes and eat the rest. We had fried new potatoes and onions for supper last night and they were so good!
Next on our potato list is to dig Granny’s for her and then harvest the ones we planted in grow bags.
Last night’s video: I Was Only Looking For A Mess Of Beans.
Tipper
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I wrote this comment earlier this morning but must have done something wrong, it didn’t get posted. We always plowed both our arsh potatoes and sweet potatoes up with a two horse middlebuster, some call these plows potato plows. I would drive the tractor while daddy would walk behind guiding the plow. We would connect the plow to the tractor with a short length of chain. In my area we are not worried about our potatoes rotting but our worry is they will bake before we can take them up. We cannot buy any rain, it has been very hot (upper 90’s) and dry. Since the early weeks of June. The grass is dying and starting to crunch. I passed a big field of field corn yesterday, the leaves on the stalks were wilted and turning yellow. Areas around me have been getting rain but not us. When you look at the weather radar, my area looks like the hole in a doughnut. As I write this, it has started thundering, maybe we can get some rain today. A lot of times after being hot and dry for so long, any storm we have will be bad.
Look at those big potatoes in your hands! Awesome. I am glad you have such a good crop you are canning some. My daughter-in-law canned potatoes when she had a lot one year. They were delicious and so convenient to use all winter. I hope Granny’s potatoes did great too. Take care and have a wonderful day!
So fun ! Sounds delicious!
Enjoy !
My tater patch is only 4 plants. I planted peelings like Granny does. They are still green and blooming. I’m looking forward to eating them in some new tater soup and with fresh greenbeans and cornbread.
I had never heard of planting the peels until reading about it on the BP&A. Like Ed, I planted 4 or 5 hills just to try it and I did make some potatoes.
I purchased the grow bags and I got about 20 pounds from 6 containers. I put a few back cause I plan on growing round 2 of those delicious morsels! It’s so easy I just wonder why I never bothered before. Those blooms and green leaves are just beautiful and fluffy (like my hair.) I have fried them, baked them with a crispy, delicious peeling right on, and made tater salad. It’s wonderful knowing they’re not GMO and so easy to wash and leave the pretty peelings right on there. Next year, especially if I get to my country area in VA, I’m expanding the tater bag operation. See yall, if it sets in a rainy spell, you gotta hoist them taters to drier ground til the leaves take over the top (and then you’ll have to water them cause the rain can’t get in the fluffy leaves. Out of all vegetables, potatoes are, always will be and always have been my absolute favorite thing to eat possibly in the world forever! Thank the Lord for SPUDS!!!
As of now I haven’t ever planted any vegetables, but I told my husband that I’d really like to at least have a tater patch and some beans at some point. We just have SO many trees surrounding our home that we don’t get sufficient sunlight to grow anything….heck we don’t even have grass lol. We do get some sun out in the driveway area so I’m seriously considering getting a few grow bags to test out my tater growing skills, or lack thereof. Thanks for the inspiration Tipper & Matt!
I took the chance and planted potato peelings. Well, this week, we have sprouts coming up! Tipper, I remembered when Granny kept her potato peelings for planting, so I decided to give it a try. Can’t wait to see what happens.
Same. Grew in grow bags and they got so wet from the pop up bucket dumps of rain that the plants kind of melted. So I collected them early and got a lot of new potatoes but only a few good sized ones. Luckily had beans ready so had beans and potatoes for days but not enough potatoes to can. I like to can green beans and potatoes together. And I peel them or scrub till most the peel is off. Glad you got a good harvest!
I have four raised beds of potatoes and have picked two of the beds. The best early potatoes with new green beans. Heaven. I’m waiting on the last two beds until the tops start to die off.
When I was in grade school I worked on a farm 6 days a week and learned a lot about growing vegetables. I agree with you; potatoes are the easiest to grow.
As a kid on the farm when we picked potatoes it was a race down the long rows to pick the up turned hills of goodness before the potatoes started to burn by the sun.
Love your blogs and your videos.
Daddy would use a one horse middle buster to dig the potatoes. It was exciting to see them roll out of the earth and anticipating how many there would be. Around the last week of July we would plant some of the smaller ones for a fall crop. We saved cotton seed for planting the next year and would bury the potatoes in the mound of seed to keep them from freezing. When mama wanted potatoes for cooking one of the kids would go and take potatoes from the seed pile. I can still see the orange and black lard bucket that was used for transport. The potatoes would be fried in a cast iron skillet and real lard, good eating.
I hope y’all got plenty to last into next year. If you’re like me, I never plant enough to last till the end of December, but then I haven’t planted potatoes every year. I did plant this year three tubs at different times. I had harvest the first tub I planted back in January in mid May. They were actually decent size potatoes, however, I made the mistake of putting them in my refrigerator vegetable drawer. They went bad quicker, too cold I’m guessing. I had never done that before, but we were going out of town for 9 days and with no AC on I was afraid they would try to sprout again, so I put them in the refrigerator. Lesson learned! I’ve never canned potatoes. I need to try that this year. My potato plants have died back in my two other tubs, so I guess I better harvest them. I was hoping I could leave them in there a little longer, but don’t want them to rot. I guess today, I’ll harvest potatoes.
Ooohh, I love new potatoes and green beans with onion. Makes my mouth water. Momma and daddy lhad backyard gardens, but friends with big gardens always shared their bounty with the jones’ family. Momma canned and froze things but don’t remember how she did potatoes. Okra, tomatoes, corn, watermelon and cantaloupe is other vegetables I’m crazy about. Love watching y’all work your gardens. I’m so envious sometimes. Have a great weekend sending prayers for all the flood victims and families, workers, rescuers and pray they find more survivors. God does work miracles. Love to you Tipper, Matt and the family
We’ve started digging our potatoes as well. They were planted on Good Friday, just because that was the day that worked for me schedule wise. It’s the earliest we’ve ever harvested them and they have been real good!
Is there any other vegetable that is so widely eaten and cooked in so many different ways as the wonderful potato?
When I visited my grandmother Christine in Germany in the sixties and seventies, she loved to make a meal of white potatoes, green leaf lettuce, dill and parsley with a dressing made of sour cream and vinegar. I only saw her during three trips in my life, but she let me play in her garden – her pride and joy, – and when we dried the dishes, she would dance around her kitchen to the radio. Theme from a Summer Place was a song that we both enjoyed.
My potato tops have been dead for about a month already. Outside of the mountains, Georgia is not a place to grow potatoes. There is a mountain on the southern edge of the Cohutta Wilderness named Potatopatch Mt. at elevation 3560 feet because somebody, or more than one, went up there to have a potato patch. Lots of sweet birch there now. I’m sure they grew much better there than down in the valley outside the mountains. I have dug only about two hills of potatoes so far. Think I’ll dig some more soon. If I leave them too long some critter eats them.
I planted potatoes in grow bags. The leaves were beautiful and lush but when they died back most of the potatoes were the size of marbles! What a disappointment!
I’m glad yours did well at least in one section of the garden.
Have a great rest of the week!
Happy you had a good harvest. This didn’t show up in my email till later than usual and I was a little concerned. Hope all is well.
We have always grabbled taters early to eat on, but never harvest the whole crop before a frost. Will be curious to see if they keep for you without rotting .
We usually plowed both our arash potatoes and sweet potatoes up by me driving the tractor and pulling an old mule plow two mule middlebuster known by some as a potato plow. My Daddy would be walking behind holding and guiding the plow. Around here during the last few weeks potatoes would be more likely to bake, no chance of them rotting. We are very dry to the point of the grass dying and now crunching, flowers and other things wilting and dying. Yesterday, I passed by a very large many acre field of “field corn,” the leaves were wilted and beginning to turn yellow. Last night at 10 o’clock the weather radar showed us being surrounded by thunderstorms but not one drop of rain for my area. Maybe today, more thunderstorms predicted.
Do you can new potatoes with the skins on?
Life with Nana, we have only canned potatoes one time and we did remove the skins. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in and share their method 🙂
Our potato patch was on a steep hillside, in red clay. We’d set off dynamite on the high side and pick up the potatoes below, at the next terrace. Wink-wink.
Gene, glad to see you are able to comment again. I don’t want to be around you in a thunderstorm, lightening don’t play around! If you read my comment it might get me too.
Thanks, I’ll keep checking back. I’ll also do some research on my own and let you know if I find out anything. Love you all.
My daddy used to plant rows and rows of potatoes. He called them “Arsh” potatoes. He did grow some red ones too. I remember helping to dig them up and placing them in a cold storage room off our utility room. He used old blankets or straw to cover them, and they lasted until April of the next year. Mom would make a big pot of fresh picked green beans and put some of the smaller potatoes in them. They tasted so good with cornbread, Cole slaw, fresh tomatoes, cuke, onions and some kind of meat. I’ve never had canned potatoes; that’s one vegetable that mom never canned. She put a lot of vegetables in the freezer, too.