Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Tater anticipation

This week I ordered seed potatoes for the first time in my life. We planted a few potatoes two years ago, and had some volunteers in the garden last year. I was impressed by how easy and productive potatoes were, and wanted more. Someone in the blogosphere mentioned Wood Prairie Farm, and that website opened my uneducated eyes to the many types and varieties of potatoes available. Just reading about them all makes my mouth water in anticipation (click on the hot links to see for yourself)!

I ordered the Experimenter's Special, and chose as my varieties Carola, Onaway, Elba, and Yukon Gold. They are supposed to ship the end of February, which is when seed potatoes are beginning to be sold around here. Here's to a bumper crop of yummy-ness!

That's it for now at . . .

10 comments:

Kim said...

Oh memories! I once tried to grow potatoes in a big barrel on my deck, but I went away for a week, and it was really really rainy, do you know how bad rotten potatoes smell? I laughed myself silly after I got it all cleaned up! The next year I planted in the ground, and the gophers got so many I ended up just cutting off the tooth marks to get some to eat. The third year I overplanted and ended up giving away loads and loads. May you garden be fertile and the pests be absent, and the diggin' easy!

Anonymous said...

Fun, Fun, Fun! I am going to order some from there as well - thank you for the link!

Sharon said...

We planted reds and Yukon golds last year and are still eating them. Ian mulched them up and I think we've just pulled the last ones out. Yum.

Molly Bee said...

OMG! Bridgewater is about 20 minutes from where I grew up1 My old stompin' grounds! When I was in school, we used to go back in August and get out for 2 week at the end of Sept to pick potatoes for the local farmers. 50 cents/barrel. What a miserable way to earn your fall school clothes!

woodprairie said...

Thanks for mentioning us in your blog (which I love) and enjoy the potatoes! I love selling seed, in a way we can be in gardens all across the country. Megan

Michelle said...

What a connection, MollyBees! Here the kids USED to pick strawberries right after school let out at the end of the year, but not many kids are willing to do that kind of work anymore (and apparently there aren't many parents who say "You WILL get a job!") so the migrant workers do most of it now.

Thanks for stopping by, Megan! Thanks for the compliments on my blog; I am SO looking forward to your potatoes!

Kathy said...

Ronniger's is another good place for seed potatoes:

http://www.ronnigers.com

Plus, they used to give Master Gardeners a discount. ;) their catalog is a great one for information on the varieties.

Leigh said...

Michelle, thanks for the link. I've only grown volunteer potatoes in the past (leftovers from trench composting in the winter). This is my first time to plant them on purpose and I'm looking forward to!

Franna said...

Our homegrown potatoes were so good! They were victims of the big freeze in early December and we had to go back to store bought potatoes. What a difference! I was surprised - after all, it's just a potato, right? Wrong! Good luck with them. Just a note - if you have a spot to plant them away from the other veggies, they benefit from less watering - or rather less frequent watering than say tomatoes, beans, and corn.

Michelle said...

Thanks for the tip, Franna -- I have just the spot!