I had my first garden potatoes this year. It was just a test plot of 5' x 4'. For an investment of two seed potatoes, I got two colanders of potatoes back. The soil is heavy clay, so I lightened it with sand, and compost, plus the normal soil amendments. Additionally, it is where I now dump our coffee grounds (including filters). The area gets less sun than the rest of my garden area but I 'm pleased with this first effort. The potatoes (German Butterball) were in all sizes. The smallest potatoes went into a stew, minutes after harvesting.
I'd appreciate suggestions on other potatoe varieties, not that I'm unhappy with the Butterballs, but I'm curious as to what other people like and why.
We especially like our French fingerlings from SeedSavers.
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(OG)The color is nice, but what we really enjoy about them is their creaminess. We don't do a lot of mashed preparations, most of what we do is either roast or steamed preparations.
My own preferences are skewed by the Schoharie Valley, just to the south of us; I can get any of the ordinary potatoes really really cheap there. So, I grow yellow fingerlings and "Allblue," plus an assortment of red, yellow, and blue tubers that I got in a sampler pack from a breeder who works with some of the original South American lines. Like other veggies, why not grow the stuff that is expensive or unavailable in the stores?
Dear Lady loves the Radicchio, and you can never have too many sugar snap peas!
Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G
Colors are good for presentations, but how do these heirloom potato varieties compare in taste to Russets or Yukons? The Butterballs taste like potatoes, only more so.
I dicked around too long last spring, what with some turmoil in our lives, and seedsavers was out of stock. With my limited sapce I was going to grow them in wire cages filled with straw. Search that option for good ideas on going vertical with your crop.
The french fingerlings Steve referenced were one of the varieties I was going to try, along with LaRatte, if I recall. THere were some others that don't come to mind right now.
Dicked around this fall also and didn't get the garlic in until the first of Nov, but this is third generation on it and it should do just fine. Once again, I waited too long to order some other varieties from seedsavers.
This is one about heirlooms...taste like, only more so.
Charlie
"If organic farming is the natural way, shouldn't organic produce just be called "produce" and make the pesticide-laden stuff take the burden of an adjective?" ~Ymber Delecto
Very favorably. If you haven't seen it, the Moosewood Tubers catalog (Part of Fedco Seeds) has a chart listing the attributes of the many potatoes it offers.... I just recall a scale of waxiness that tells you whether to bake, boil, fry, etc. And as Steve mentioned, the colors are fun. I find the blue ones keep their color best sliced and pan-fried in as much olive oil as I can keep Dear Lady from spotting. For what it's worth, my G.E. combination microwave/convection oven works a treat for roasting potatoes... in the "Fast Bake" (oven with bursts of microwave thrown in), you can do several spuds in 15 minutes, and they taste just like regular oven roasted.
Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G
Signature seems kinda familiar but in any event, thanks for all the responses. Now I've got to rework next years garden scheme in order to increase the potatoe crop.
Good and tasty any way you cook it is yellow finn. I could say something bad about some of those mentioned but to everyone's taste. Even mine! Good luck with the next potaoto crop.
The German Butterballs worked out so well, that I'll expand my planting of them next year, but since gardeners are a fickle lot, always staring over the fence to see what the neighbor is growing. I'll probably try the Fr. Fingerlings, La Ratte, Adirondack Blue, Kerr's Pink, or, maybe, All Red. I'm sure I won't plant all of them, but Gary intrigued me with the idea of colors and the description of LaRatte is irresistible. These choices are based on responses to my query about potatoes and the Cornell gardening site:
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Cornell ranking appears to be based on responses to the site. It is odd that, although LaRatte and Princess LaRatte are supposed to be the same, or at the least, very similar, yet the Princess has 4 stars for yield
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the LaRatte has only 2
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's probably just the sampling size of the people who have rated the potatoes, but I'll try to find the Princess, nonetheless.
I'll start locally, then try Seed Savers Exchange:
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then I'll google, if I have to. Locally, the potatoes will arrive at the local nursery in February, which is a 2 month jump on what I can find on line.
Again, thanks for the feed back that I have gotten, and may still get.
It looks as if Jonny's Select Seed has a lock on some of the potatoes. I went in search of info on Johnny's and came up with the following, which I think makes for interesting reading.
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