Spuds!

[uppityperson]

I planted about 11# of varied spuds and so far have harvested:
Austrian fingerlings 30#(waxy and delicious!)
Chieftans, red 52#
Blue fingerlings 13#
I still have russets and yellow fins left, will probably get another 50# at least.

I planted them in trenches and covered with about 6 inches soil as they emerged, then put a little mulch down, and went on vacation. What a fine thing to come back to. Yum!

My advice, don't grow blue ones if you have rocks in your soil because it is too hard to tell them from a rock and you end up feeling every. single. rock. My UP bought me some blue fingerlings last fall for a gift, so I had to plant them, but not again.

[uppityperson]

1. I finished digging today and here is the report: 11 1/2#=146#

The yellow finns and russets didn't do as well as the reds did, only 25-26# of each of those. So, depending on how things keep, next yr I'm doing more austrian fingerlings and red chieftans.

Interesting looking back on what I wrote before, expecting 50# at least and I got 51#. I was expecting more while digging today, but got what I thought I would when I harvested the first set.

So, the russets didn't get very big. I have a lot of small and tiny ones, with a few ones that are over 1/2#. No russets for next yr, unless they are the only ones to keep through the winter.

But, I still won't do blues.

[Kolesar]

2. Russian banana fingerlings were great--do you have any other varieties you recommend?

I had so much fun this year that I plan to grow a lot more potatoes next year. If you have any musings about what potatoes you recommend, please share them.

I think that the second variety that I select for 2009 will be potatoes that are designed for long storage. Beyond that, I would look for interesting flavors.

[Gormy Cuss]

3. Holy cow, what a good haul.

Taters are something that I haven't try, but want to do so one of these years.

[uppityperson]

4. Rat proof "root cellar" after losing the blues to the rats.

I had these spuds in buckets on a side porch. The rats found them and were busy nibbling away. So I put them down in the crawl space a couple wks ago. The rats found a way in and ate 13# of blue fingerlings. Those were the ones I liked the least, so am glad that is what they chose. Sorry MrUP, I don't like the blue ones. Rats did though.

Yesterday I bought a second hand metal file cabinet, 3 drawers, and it is now on the shaded porch full of potatoes, squash and apples.

Let's see if those suckers can get in there. Hahahhahahaaha. Dang, must go check the trap in the crawl space again.