One potato, two potato, three potato, four

It has been raining over the last couple of days, so not much has been done outside, which is why I have been posting more. Today I decided to talk about one of my favorite vegetables of all time, the potato. This year we planted three 20' rows of potatoes: 2 of white storage (Kennebec) and 1 red (Desiree). These guys require a lot of dirt. Throughout their development you have to "hill" them. This involves dumping enough dirt on them to cover up about 2/3 of the exposed plant, thereby creating a hill. You do this about three times during the growing period. In an effort to be more efficient this year, we dug a trench and planted the seed potatoes (a potato with at least two eyes) four inches into the ground from the bottom. We plan on using the dug up dirt from the sides of the trench to hill them.

So, in about a week and a half from placing that potato 4 inches in the ground you begin to see cracks in the earth like this one below. As an aside, the French word for potato is pomme de terre, meaning apple of the earth. Considered yourself cultured now. ;)

Soon you will have a row of plants.

After about 2 months the plants will flower which is your cue to start harvesting if you like new potatoes. Otherwise, leave them in the ground to keep growing. I love digging for them. It's like a treasure hunt, you just never know how many are going to be there. We remove all of the remaining plants towards the end of September.  Once we dig them up, we leave the dirt on until we use them. All  are stored in crates in the basement for use in the winter.

The potato is one of the most versatile vegetables out there. Think about it, vodka, French fries, potato salad, potato skins, hash browns, etc. All things I love. A staple in this house for sure.