howdy! several months ago, i stalked a bunch of gardening blogs to learn how to grow potatoes.
while spring isn’t the ideal time to grow potatoes in california, i was impatient and wanted to give it a try. typically potatoes require cooler weather.
my intent was to plant these around halloween, but life got away from me.
anyway, i’d gotten some GMO-free, organic potatoes from a friend who’s family runs a potato farm in Idaho and i’d decided to try the coffee sack method.
what you’re seeing here is that i dug into the raised planter about 18″, stuck the coffee sack in the hole, and put the budding yams and potatoes into ~1′ of fresh compost.
as the leaves popped out the top of the soil, i added more soil and/or compost. then things started getting unruly, so i added the cage for extra support. i’ve determined that coffee sacks are too flimsy, but they did add extra protection from the sun and are organic!
i had no idea how these would fare as it gets pretty hot here in So Cal. that’s why i dug pretty far into the soil to try to protect the taters.
in the photo below, you can see the right side coffee sack and cage where the regular potatoes were. i forgot to take a ‘before’ shot, so that’s why it’s already been pulled out of the ground and placed to look like it’s been there for months.
lame.
sorry.
the potatoes were doing really really well until the last time i added soil on top of the plant. i completely buried the leaves, which i think was overambitious. i’m pretty sure this is what did the plant in.
i’ve read that once you see the leaves die back, the plant is ready to harvest. and this was my crop. i was surprised to find anything, to be honest!
these small and firm potatoes were all under the soil! i don’t recall planting red-skinned potatoes…but look at what i dug up! the truth, though, is that i planted about this many cut up chunks, so i’m a net-neutral for these taters.
i cooked them up tonight for my hubby for dinner…and they were incredible.
so sweet and delicious. i’ve never tasted anything quite like it. i’m not sure my husband really could tell the difference. you win some…not all. 🙂
i’m excited for the yams. looks like some sort of bug is getting the leaves, but they’re still going strong. the weather has been pretty mild this summer with lots of June gloom all the way through August.
i’ll keep y’all posted and i’m sure hubby will notice the difference in the yams as he’s a connoisseur!
About meesh