[Ag-eq] Potatoes

[Jewel]

Ah potatoes and growing of same:  my favourite topic!  well, perhaps not, quite, my favourite, for 
it it was, what a boring person I would be!
This year, I have tried a potato bag, but I haven't poked around so I don't know just how 
successful, or the reverse, the experiment has been.
The bag I have is 60cm [2 feet high/deep and I have planted 6 potatoes in it in 6 layers.  I think 
that I have 4 individual plants, but there could be more.
However, my proper crop is in the garden.  I do not dig a  trench, but just holes, a spade blade 
deep, drop in a handful of blood and bone, the potato and fill the hole in, then, virtually, leave 
them to their own devices.
Maybe, it would upset many perfection gardeners and they couldn't bring themselves to do it, but I 
don't remove weeds as a good weed cover negates having to earth up/ridge  the rows.
As you, no doubt, know, if light gets to the potato, the potato goes green and the chemmical that 
causes the greening is toxic. but  If you leave a good weed cover, it will block the light to quite 
a major degree.
I must confess that, neither do I weed nor do I water, which would account for the fact that, 
depending on the amount of rain we have had over the growing season, my crops are variable, 
sometimes, prolific to the point where I am, virtually, drowning in spuds, can one drown in spuds?, 
and in other years, I barely make it from one harvest to the next.
Just going back to green potatoes for a moment, a small patch of green won't do you any harm, and a 
solid green is so bitter that one would have to be mad to eat a poisonous potato.
Potatoes will keep well if stored in a dark, cool place, but, as  I hate waste of any sort, to avoid 
the possibility of same, if I have had a crop that I know is going to last me for months, I cut into 
slices any potato larger than a hen's egg and parboil and freeze them.  When I want a potato, all I 
have to do is get as many as I want out of the freezer, and as they are, already partly cooked, they 
can be finished off in any way I want, roasting, baking, boiling, chipping etc etc, if there are any 
etc ways of cooking potatoes.
Don't throw away tiny potatoes;  they can be cooked and added to the dog's/pig's dinner or added to 
the hen's mash.  I would think that goats, also, wouldn't say "no" to a boiled spud!
Now, as to cultivars/varieties:  I won't say anything about that as the varieties we grow in New 
Zealand and those which are grown in the States will be quite different, but suffice it to say that 
varieties have been bred for different  climatic conditions, and to provide potatoes for different 
purposes ;  some boil and mash very well, while others are more suitable for roasting or chipping. 
A specialist potato grower would be the best person to advise you on what cultivars to plant, given 
what you want to do with them and where you live.  I am sure that the internet would also have heaps 
of info on what varieties to plant: and where!
GOOD LUCK!

Jewel
----------------------------------
From: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net>
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 7:34 AM
To: "Agricultural and Equestrean Division List" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [Ag-eq] Potatoes

Jewel, or anyone, didn't you say you grew potatoes?  Do you have any tips to
pass on?  What variety do you grow?
I have tried 2 methods:  one using the potato bag--a burlap bag one fills
with soil and plants potatoes in, and 1 using the dig a trench, plant the
spuds, and gradually fill in the trench.  So far, the trench method seems
the most productive. I'm not sure why.  Possibly because I'm not always as
dilligent as I could be about watering containers.
Tracy



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