We finally dug up the potato patch. We harvested German Butterball, Yukon Gold and Purple Viking. We planted 7.5 lbs of tubers and harvested 90 lbs. That's 12 pounds in the pantry for every 1 pound that was sown. Last year we planted around 5 pounds of tubers and harvested only 35 pounds.
We credit the increased yield to heavy soil amendments (straw and compost), broadfork digging and mounding straw and soil (thanks Belle). No, no, no. I take it all back, we credit the increase to not giving up on potatoes after last year's bust. We're so glad things went better this time around!
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| The patch not dug. |
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| The mostly dug patch and our boys gathering the goods. |
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What about varieties? Yukon Gold was medium sized, smooth and beautiful, but our smallest producer. From 2 1/2 pounds we planted 22 eyes and harvested around 10 pounds -less than 1 pound per plant. German Butterball gave us the most poundage. From 2 1/2 pounds we planted 40 eyes and harvested around 50 pounds. That's 1 1/4 pounds per plant, but the potatoes were small. The Purple Viking is the most beautiful, the biggest in size and our medium producer. From 2 1/2 pounds we planted 30 eyes and harvested 30 pounds.
On average, if I have done the math right, we took about 1 pound of potatoes per plant. It's not 3 pounds per plant, but I can live with it!
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| Them's some small potatoes. |
What did we learn? Mounding works! Clay is bad. Amending the soil was good. Broadforking for deep loose soil is great. And by the way, thank you
Jane for recommending we use the broadfork to dig the potatoes! We also learned, as hard as it is to do with our limited space, to spread the plants out a little further for bigger potatoes and, I bet, even heavier yields.
We have one question for you now, and it has nothing to do with potatoes. When is it time to pick the Moon and Stars watermelon? We have 3 giants in the garden (thank you
Robin for the seeds) and we're not sure when to bring them inside. Any thoughts?
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| Half of this watermelon is hiding. It's at least 15 pounds! |
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| Enlarge the picture to see them hiding. |
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| Two more giants! |
Nice potato harvest.
ReplyDeleteThanks Daphne.
Deletevery nice potato harvest! And the watermelon looks great too, can't wait to see your review on taste :) I know i will wait for the wine to dry out at the top of the melon and the bottom spot that touches the ground to turn bright yellow before picking.
ReplyDeleteHi Jenny, the bottom spot is very yellow, but the vine is quite alive still. I think we'll wait a little longer yet. Thanks for the help.
DeleteAmazing each year you have good melon harvest. Those are beautiful heirloom watermelon.
ReplyDeleteThanks MK girl. This year will not be quite what it was last year, but we're thankful for what we have.
ReplyDeletegreat potato harvest! Those melons look great too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mrs. Pickles. The potatoes are in the basement now getting ready for storage.
DeleteWell done on the potato harvest! On the melons, I look for that bright orange/yellow color change on the bottom and depending on the variety the vine end may slip easily when truly ripe (or wither up somewhat).
ReplyDeleteYou've given me exactly the same help as Jenny on watermelons. So, on the testimony of two gardeners, I'm going to keep waiting for that vine to start withering. I just checked the vine today and it's still very healthy!
DeleteNice melons and potatoes! I need to dig my potatoes too. I was thinking about doing it this weekend. We shall see how the can can goes!
ReplyDeleteI spent a solid 3 hours on that project! I hope you get a huge harvest from your new location. It would be a good sign of great soil!
DeleteYour watermelons look fantastic! I was deeply disappointed that I wasn't able to grow any this year. In the past, I've gone by the tendril closest to the melon. When it turns brown and dies back, the melon is usually ready. It's worked for me and seemed much more reliable than say waiting for the bottom of the melon to turn yellow, which didn't seem as accurate.
ReplyDeleteOh - and thank you for your recent comment! It was every reassuring to hear from another winemaker.
fantastic potatoes!
ReplyDeleteLove moon and star watermelon, so sweet.
ReplyDelete2 years I have tried to grow watermelons. 2 years--absolutely nothing. Maybe I need to try another type of seed.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful harvests. The potatoes are AWESOME.