Here's Spud In Your Eye

Nothing tastes better than new potatoes freshly dug out of the ground. Had we not been so ravenous, I probably would have had pictures of the finished product, but instead you'll have to be content with the pre-harvest pictures.


Look at all those pretty eyes. I try not to be chintzy when it comes to leaving enough meat for each eye, but I have heard of people eating the meat of the potato and saving just enough to grow the eye.

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I might try that next year and see if it makes any difference.

This is a picture of how we grew the potatoes this year. In the past we used potato boxes, gradually layering a new (bottomless) box over the old one so the potatoes would keep sending out shoots.

This year because we were so rushed, we used heavy duty weed-choking fabric, doubled in half, and nailed to posts.

I would have called it a success because the fabric remained nearly pristine during the entire growing season, but no sooner did I harvest my potatoes than the fabric began to disintegrate. Too bad. I really wanted to use it again next year.

I think we put the fabric fence up too late in the season. By the time we remembered to put it up, the plants were already too high. You have to add more dirt (we used peat moss) as the plant grows.

We still have our old potato boxes at Zannini south. I'll try to remember to bring them next spring.

Despite the lower yields, our spuds were delicious. There's nothing like fresh off the vine potatoes. You don't even need butter.

Has anyone else tried growing potatoes this year? How were your results?

Copyright © 2009 Maria Zannini -- http://mariazannini.blogspot.com/.

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