Potatoes 2009

I LOVE that you have an entire bed to devote to just potatoes!!

I'm impressed, too! What will you do with them all? We have (had) one potato, and that was on the windowsill, growing futile leaves and roots. Then it got knocked over. No more potatoes.

I'm impressed. I have some seed potatoes chitting on my windowsill, while I try and get up the energy to go dig up some garden bed place for them. My lawn is far more shaggy than that - every time I think about going out to mow, it starts to rain... You are making good progress, and I'll be very curious about how well the taters do.

I love the idea of making a raised bed just for potatoes. Where we planted ours last year we had to dig dig dig to find where they all were. (once all the greenery had died it was hard to find them).

And interestingly enough - we grew purple potatoes again last year and they did too well...we had more of the purple ones than the red or white. And, although they were good to eat, I'd rather have had more red ones because they are my fave.

Oh!! I know just what you mean about trying to kill the lawn here. I have put down more newspaper to kill it but it takes forever and I needed to plant now so I did it the hard way and boy am I sore...and still not done! This bed is gorgeous. Guess what I did yesterday? Planted my fingerlings and then came in to fix dinner and forget the rest of my potatoes outside....and what did it do last night and all day? RAIN! I sure hope they'll dry out without disease because potato seeds and wet don't mix.
Have you done keeper potatoes before? I'm hoping to grow enough this year to keep in the cellar pantry for winter. Either that or dig a cold frame for them.

Very fun...ahh, i do miss grass like that.

nice looking bed!!! my potatoes & shallots arrived today and I'm thinking of doing the potatoes in fencing wire bins with straw and compost layers. I'm out of beds!

Sara- you've got to put it in the ground!! Try again...it's not too late.

Karmyn- I love the purple potatoes! Mine usually do alright but I've never had a bumper of them. I like having a bed too. I tried planting them directly in the ground in our local soil and it wasn't a great year. Too much clay. I got some, didn't waste any money on the seed potatoes- but they were really held back by the dense soil.

Kathy- I always get impatient and rob my potato plants for the new potatoes. But if I can hold my freakin' horses I might try growing keepers.

Kelly, Alison, Dayna- thank you for the compliments on the bed! I love having a whole bed for potatoes. I eat them every way imaginable and it is one of those foods, like avocados, that it is impossible for me to get tired of. Growing them is just so satisfying- I love digging them up- like jewels being unearthed.

Kimberly- is there no grass where you are? I want to give you mine.

Mine are chitting on the window sill, they may still be there in the summer as I'm trying to persuade my husband to plant them for me. Never mind once I've had the baby and am able to bend I'll get back to my allotment.

Haha...We have grass, but it's sparse...and what little we do have is crunchy and hurts to step on. Yours looks soft and inviting...although I do understand your problem since I grew up in the Midwest where grass was known get out of control very easily. I guess "the grass is always greener on the other side" theory applies well here.