This season I planted three 20' rows of taters. One row was of our "old" reds that were given to us several (many?) years ago by a farmer friend who had no idea what variety they were. They provided us with nice potatoes up until last year when they seemed to fizzle out on us and produced mostly small and only a few decent sized spuds. So that's why I ordered some new red potato sets to try, a row of Red Chieftans. In the third row, I planted some Burbank Russets when my dear husband (who maintains he definitely prefers a red potato over a white one) wasn't looking. That gave me one row of the not-so-vigorous-anymore nameless reds, one row of Red Chieftans, and (shhhh!) that row of Burbank Russets.
Fairly predictably (and just why did I even plant them?), the old reds did quite poorly. Once again, they were small to medium weighing in at only 30-1/2 pounds for the 20' row.
The new Red Chieftans did themselves proud producing a whole bunch of medium/large sized spuds, for a total weight of 50-1/2 pounds for their 20' row.
The white Burbank Russets produced some honkin' big potatoes that are so large I think one of the biggies baked would be too much for the two of us to split. (If I could talk Papa Pea into eating an-oh-no-white! potato.) They gave a fantastic crop from the 20' row of 82 pounds.
We'll share the potato bounty with our daughter and her guy (hope they like white ones), and I'm sure we'll all have plenty for this winter.
28 comments:
SO jealous....
Wonderful! We're red potato-eaters here too. What a nice harvest. I used to live on Prince Edward Island, potato-capital of Canada...I remember once driving by the Cavendish potato plant. There would be steam from one side of the plant to the other, and whenever I drove through it, my car smelled like french fries for a week. Potato tales lol :)
Hey when did you start planting those? They look great! I want to try to do some in a garbage can net year.
What a wonderful potato harvest, I hope they store well for you,
Nothing better than a potato you grew yourself well except for a strawberry or a carrot or... well never mind you know what I mean. LOL!
Michelle - You can't grow potatoes?
Rain - Ha-ha! There are worse things to smell like than French fries!!
Amanda - My potatoes went in on May 30th this year. I know people do successfully grow potatoes in a barrel or can or old tires. Good luck with yours next year!
Dawn - Thank you! They usually keep well for us in the root cellar.
Sparkless - Yep, I know what you mean! :o]
Those white potatoes would work better than the red in potato soup or maybe scalloped potatoes. Who would know?
Not very well! Not sure I harvest more weight than I plant. :-/
Wow! Look at those white spuds! Those are ginormous. I am a fan of the potato in any color, shape, size, or nationality. They are my favorite food. Especially in chip form....
Potato perfection! WOW!
Michelle - Now that is very discouraging!
Katie C. - That's exactly what I was thinking for the white potatoes! Plus, if I mash them and serve with gravy, my (slightly fussy) husband will gobble them up!
Susan - You would have to bring up our shared passion of potato chips, wouldn't you! I've been a good girl lately and even though there are some in the pantry, I've been staying away from them. (Why-oh-why do I torture myself so??!);o}
Fiona - We're sure pleased with the harvest!!
I'm definitely changing what we grow next year. I do not like the taste and consistency of the red LaSoda potatoes we planted. Your potato harvest looks great!
Beautiful potato harvest!
I prefer reds too. But for baking you can't beat the Russets.
Just add meat loaf and peas. He won't squawk a bit! Fall comfort food at its best. Now I have an Anne Bryan 1917 applesauce cake recipe from another blog that I want to try today...where the heck did I put it?!
Kristina - Bummer that your reds don't have the qualities you prefer. I know different years and weather patterns affect a crop differently (sometime with a plague of insects!) so it's probably a good idea to plant at least two varieties even of potatoes. I'm thinking I'll keep doing that now.
Thanks, Glenda. You're right, for a baked potato you've got to have a good "white" one!
Katie C. - And that's just exactly what I'll do for his baked potato when I want to make them. Or make a gravy with some cooked beef in it for him to put over his baked potato. (More than one way to skin a cat, huh?) ;o}
I would like to use some of those potatoes in a good ole pot roast :)
Op Ex - Oh, yes! What's better than a pot roast with onions, carrots and potatoes?! Shades of Sunday dinners of my childhood.
the bigger the better! I'm so lazy when it comes to pealing them!
Kev - I think anyone can relate to that! (Besides, I always seem to knick a finger when trying to peel a really small potato!)
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