Square Potatoes

We had several loyal farmers market customers ask if they could buy some potato plants, so we planted some potato seed pieces in 4 inch pots to get them started. We had a couple of pots left over so we have been diligently watering them.

Andrea noticed the pots were bulging a bit so she popped them out of the pots. 

Chemical Agriculture 204: Monoculture Failures

There are a number of examples of dismal failures of monoculture in agriculture.

Let's discuss three notable examples.

Baby Potato Salad with Arugula

We are starting into our second crop of the year for baby potatoes. We find that Yukon Gold and Red Norland do well and are very early in our cool Minnesota spring conditions, yet do well in the warmer summer months as well.

I like to experiment with recipes and I have been trying variation of the lowly potato salad. These baby potatoes work will for making potato salad as they have a waxy texture and hold together well.

The subtle flavor of potatoes jacked up with arugula is an amazing combination. I've combined the flavor of roasted and seasoned browned and crisped potatoes with a zesty mustard vinaigrette. This simple recipe is easy to construct, see recipe below.

How to Plant Perfect Potatoes

Planting potatoes in Minnesota is full of tradition and technique. It is traditional to plant the first crop on Good Friday. Our best technique is to...

What if I have some Potatoes yet to Dig

I have one row of potatoes still to dig. So what can I expect? They have been mature for several months and the tops died back.

Potatoes keep extremely well in the ground and cure for good storage. There is probably no better place for them to be than in their natural high humidity habitat.

One you dig them don't wash them until they are to be used as the washing process can introduce mold and remove the natural protection against spoilage.

Potatoes that are well cured and unwashed can keep until spring and be eaten or planted. I had 4-5 buckets of Yukon Gold potatoes that kept until May and I sold them at the May market. Pretty good season extension.

I also like the variety Carola for long term storage.

The Jedi Master of Root Growing

Reed is our Jedi root grower. He has done an amazing job with this since he was very young. He is very good at planting onions and can do about twice as many plants as two other people.

Two years ago he'd pick, clean and sell 300 lbs of sweet summer onions a week at our market. He would completely bury a six foot long table with beautiful sweet onions. He called this strategy "Pile them high an kiss 'em goodbye".

He also loves radishes both to eat and to sell. 100 lbs of bunch radishes a week was not unusual.

Potatoes is the other specialty crop he excells in. He digs and clean about 100 lbs of nice little baby potatoes a week. When he was little he wasn't heavy enough to get the fork in the ground so we would work together, with me digging and Reed picking the potatoes off of the plant and carefully putting them in the tub we picked into.

He is also very good at leeks. He peels them and clips them, and afterwards they shine; a beautiful shade of white.

How To Plant Potatoes - Time to Plant

Potato planting time is fast approaching in the frozen Minnesota tundra. I bought my seed potatoes this week from the Pine Island Coop. I bought two bags of Dark Red Norland and two bags of Yukon Gold. I could get some snazzy varieties through the Internet and the mail, but I like to do business locally as much as I can.

These two old standbys are great for baby potatoes and are exceptionally early. Approximately 60 days.

We cut the potatoes into pieces with two eyes each. One becomes the dominant eye and the other is just a back-up in case the primary gets damaged. I usually let them cure a day or two at room temperature. I also dust them with microrizofungi to prevent rot and inoculate the risosphere with friendly bacteria and fungi. You don't have to do this for success, I just have some so I use it. A little compost in the trench would accomplish the same thing.

You typically plant potatoes a couple of feet apart but we crowd our plants to 6-8" so that the potatoes are a little smaller on average. We also pick them early or they will still grow to full sized. One 50 lb bag of potatoes will plant about 300 feet of row if you plant this way.

We plant the first planting when the ground is thawed and easily worked. Do not work the ground to wet or it will just get hard and cloddy. We wait until the first planting is about 2-3 inches tall and then plant a succession crop. The last succession planting is around June 1-15. The will provide a steady supply of baby potatoes most of the summer. Don't forget to plant peas at the same time.

We apply lots of compost around the potatoes, they like that and so do the earth worms.

Start looking for potatoes when the blossoms start to open up. Dig a few plants and wait a few days if they are not big enough. We always plant a few extra in the first planting and burn through allot of plants to get extra for the early market. We always sell extra at that time of the year. Peas and potatoes baby!

I'll blog later about what to do about the potato beatles.