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My potato harvest

W

wordwiz

Didn't dig many - I have had this urge to eat lots of corn and try to find a mud puddle to lay in for the last week. Oink, oink. From about five hills, I collected five pounds of Yukon gold spuds which has translated into seven pints of canned spuds. It's dangerous to project stuff but based on the very early results, my 100 plants would provide 140 pints (70 quarts) of canned spuds. I would need to get the other 30 quarts from my row of Kennebeks, which is doable.

A downer is needing to cook these things for 45 minutes - no fun when the cooker doesn't start to jiggle until midnight and I have to rise and shine at 6:30, with or without the flu.

Mike
 
Dang...lotta work mate.

I always thought spuds weee one of the easiest crops..shove 'em in a tire and heap dirt on 'em. :D

Never canned them though...hmm, pickled potatos could be fun with a chile or two...imagine the salad from those eh?

Hope ya feel better.
 
Quad,

They are quite easy to grow. I planted them, rotary tilled between the rows once, raked the dirt up around the plants and let them go the rest of the year. Canning them is about as easy - wash, cut the big ones into smaller pieces, stuff them in a jar, add water. I don't peel them, not even for mashed potatoes.

Mike
 
Dug some more this evening, I am now up to 25 pounds and am about 1/6 through the space. I like to play with statistics and if the rest of the space provides the same harvest that translates into the same number of jars, I will end up with 70 quarts, 30 short of my goal. But, when I consider they will only need to last me for eight months (35 weeks) and not 12, that will give me two quarts per week or about 100 quarts for a year.

But the problem with extrapolating is that the ground at the other end of the garden is not as productive - at least it wasn't last year. But to counterbalance that, I'm digging the Yukon Gold which supposedly are not as big as Kennebec.

Either way, if I can get 150 pounds that gives me about three pounds per week to eat.

Mike
 
After a couple more days and 3/4 through the Yukon Gold (or what is supposed to be YG), I'm up to 60 pounds. Thirty-five quarts of canned spuds so far, plus probably enough for another seven, maybe ten quarts still to process. The rest of the YG should be a decent yield - the ground is a bit better, there were not as many weeds in it (different discussion) - hopefully enough for 14 quarts. Then, the Kennebecs!

Mike
 
After far too many days of rain that kept me out of the garden, I was able to dig some more spuds. Finished up the Yukon Gold. The 24 pounds put me to 84 pounds, eleven pounds more than I got from the same area last year growing Kennebec.

I did unearth about three hills of the latter and reaped just over 4 pounds. It came from the worst ground so - keeping my fingers crossed, I could feasibly end up with 50 pounds from them.

Next year should be even better, as I didn't get a chance to sow wheat in the area they are in.

Mike
 
It finally dried up enough to get back in the potato area of the garden. Got 25 pounds of Kennebec (29 total) bringing the yearly harvest to 113 pounds. Unfortunately, there is only about a dozen feet left to unearth.

Mike
 
Saved the best for last

My potato rows are about 30 feet long. From the last row, in the first 18 or so feet, I dug about 30 pounds of spuds. In the last 12 or so feet, I got the same amount, including several taters that were a pound or more. Total harvest for the year - 143 pounds.

Had I got the same production from the entire area, I would have had 225 pounds!

Mike
 
Pepperfreak,

I guess large depends on one's view! From my back door to the back fence is about 60'. From one fence line to the other is 50' or so. In that area, the back 14' won't grow weeds so it is useless. My total growing area is probably less than 1000 square feet and part of that needs a lot of amending to be productive.

What I did this year was a spinoff of square foot gardening - I planted potatoes, tomatoes and peppers no more than 30" from one row to the other. IOW, I tried to make every square foot count.

Considering the weather we had - the rain and record low temps, and that I never added a speck of fertilizer to anything in the garden, I'm relatively pleased.

I want to rethink the design of the garden next year - the west side of it didn't do squat so maybe what I need to plant there is low-light, non-perfect soil demanding stuff such as basil, carrots, onions cabbage, broccoli, etc. Run the rows north/south rather than east/west. That should allow me to use the type of soil to its best advantage.

Mike
 
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