Love Song For The Potato

Sure, I grow fancy-pants crops like chiles and okra and celeriac.  But my very favorite crop, right after the holy triumvirate of arugula, basil, and tomatoes?  The humble potato.  How do I love thee, you lumpy roots?  Let me count the ways. 

1. The flavor of homegrown organic potatoes is fantastic.  Of course, organic potatoes are just as good from the farmer's market--but commercially grown?  Inedible.  They not only taste watery and have a weird texture, but are apparently drenched in pesticides.

2. I've had good luck starting my crop for zero money, with stuff I'd otherwise compost, such as sprouted leftovers from the supermarket or the tiny potatoes from last year's crop.  I've noticed no carry-over of disease from this, but conditions, as we all know, may vary in other yards.  I have heard of the Irish potato famine, and I'd hate to cause another.

3.  They are so forgiving that you can plant them in April or in July in my part of the world. I usually do both. They are the perfect replacement crop for peas, spinach, strawberry plants, and other stuff that poops out early.

4.  They are not fussy about when you harvest them.  They're ready to be harvested after they've bloomed and the plant begins to yellow and wither--but you can start stealing potatoes from the edges of the plant early just by feeling around in the soil.  And then, after they are done, you can let them sit for a while, making sure you harvest them before the mice get them or they freeze.

5.  Harvesting them is fun.  I fork up the plant, and my kids love spotting them and picking them out of the soil.

6.  In the same space in which I'd get a few meals worth of peas, I can harvest 50 pounds of potatoes.

7.  The only pest that's ever bothered mine is easily identifiable. I'm talking about the Colorado potato beetle, neat and appealing in his yellow- and black-striped suit. That doesn't stop me from squishing him whenever I see him, before he and his girlfriends get to the egg-laying stage.  Because the larvae that come after them--pink slugs--are not remotely cute.  And they are ravenous.

8.  Potatoes will break up clay soil and improve its texture.  And my experience in my current garden, which borders on boglike, gives the lie to the idea that potatoes don't like wet soil.  I'm getting bumper crops here. 

9.  They are so various.  Some take 60 days, some take 90.  Some are white inside, some are yellow, some are blue.  Some are good for mashing, some for baking, some for boiling, and all of them, somehow, are great roasted.  Some are at their best right out of the ground.  And some are great keepers, hanging around in my warm basement without getting soft until March.  My favorites thus far: 'Yukon Gold' for boiling, even though it's not a terribly productive plant, 'All Blue' for mashing or baking, 'Sangre' for keeping.  But I'm always heading out for new frontiers.

10.  My children behave as if I've just served them ice cream whenever I put potatoes on the table.   They are crazy about potato leek soup--which may be too much of a good thing, because potato leek soup is just not exciting enough for me, but I am forbidden from duding up that dish with any of the fancy-pants crops.

Comments

[Reading Dirt]

Now if I could just figure out how to store them without opening the box or bag a couple of weeks later and finding a rat's nest of sprouts! At least in my mild climate I can leave them in the ground well into the winter and dig them as I want them -- provided it's not raining cats and dogs when I want them!

[Daphne Gould]

I'm with your kids on this. Potato Leek Soup does not need any fancy stuff. It is just perfect simplicity.

[JGH]

I'm very intrigued! Because my soil is full of clay. And fairly shady unfortunately. But I am going to try this.

[Meg]

I know there are a lot of flower fanatics who read this blog, so I'll add that the flowers on potato plants are amazing! They're so pretty and petite--not at all what you'd expect from a big ol' lumpy potato. Plus, I like being surprised by what color the flowers will be when I try out new varieties.

[Rosella]

I had been led to believe that potatoes were difficult and temperamental! I am SO going to plant some, as soon as I can find some sprouting spuds and (much more difficult) some garden space.

[Mrs. Greenhands]

Our family loves potatoes as well. This year I tried something new - I planted my seed potatoes in used tires that I filled with compost. The vines have grown like mad and the potatoes are much easier to harvest; much cleaner than growing them in the soil. I'm going to plant all my potatoes like this from now on!

[Sarah]

Love the blog! But since when is okra fancy???

[Ginny Stibolt]

Okay Michele, you've sold me on trying some potatoes. But I did a little research and I can't plant them now because it's too wet here in Florida during the summer. We've already had seven (!) inches of rain this month. Our 30-year average for July is 6 inches. We had two inches of rain in one afternoon. The potatoes would rot. So I'll find some varieties that do well here and plant them in Feb so they can be harvested before the rains come. FYI, in northern Florida (zone 9), we usually have several killing frosts, but the ground never freezes.

[Michele Owens]

Sarah--if you are a Northeastern gardener, okra is fancy stuff, because only the most intrepid Northeastern eaters will go near it. Myself, I love it, gluey texture and all.

[Sarah]

ohhh, I'm a Georgia girl living "up north" in North Carolina now. Okra isn't universally loved, but it sure isn't considered fancy. Our kids only like it fried, no slime then.

[Martha/All the Dirt on Gardening]

I keep forgetting to plant potatoes. Thanks for the reminder. They are one of the most delicious crops for a home garden spot.
M

[eliz]

I could live on them.

[Amanda]

There are some spots in my Idaho garden where nothing seems to grow except some stray arugula. I planted some sprouting potatoes from the Pocatello Co-op and voila- the potatoes grew, flourished, and provided several meals worth of starchy deliciousness.