Congratulations! I don't have any suggestions since this is my first year growing potatoes. But I have questions! I have pulled out about a quarter of the Yukon gold potatoes I planted in tires and was wondering if I should pull all of them out, or just take what I need as I need them. Do you harvest all and store them? Do you think I should leave them until the first frost? I haven't found any bugs in the soil in the tires, a nice surprise since the rest of my garden is buggy. Lastly, do you wash them or just wipe the soil off of them until you're ready to cook them? I really enjoyed growing them and I'd like to try more varieties next year.

Kennebec and Pontiac are late-maturers, but not the best storers. I don't like 'Kennebec' personally because they tend to go green quickly, but maybe for the amount you are planting they'll be OK for you. I've never gardened over there (only W Wa) so not sure if they are suitable for your climate (maybe I'll have a better idea after I return from the Pasayten in Oct).

Dan

Barb, I've done it both ways - store without washing & washed. You need to be very careful with the skins at this time of year. The skin will toughen as the plant & tubers age but it is fragile at first and a reason to leave them in the ground late.

I've got a very suitable storage place for them. This is a 100+ year-old house. One room in the basement has a dirt floor. It's kind of damp and cold in there year-around. Not perfect, but not bad . . .

Both Kennebecs & Pontiacs have been standards in my garden, Dan. Kennebecs seem to be rather prone to scab, if I'm diagnosing that problem correctly. I didn't grow spuds for years and years - then all these new and intriguing varieties came out. Given my nature . . . I went right back to Kennebecs & Pontiacs, while trying 1 or 2 different choices each year.

Honestly, I'd be curious to know if the nutritional value is as high with these quick growing varieties . . . They are kind of like "fast food" - seems to me.

S'
It's been years since I've been to Manning Provincial, Dan. Oops! Be careful there in the Pasayten - black helicopters aalll along the border . . . ;o)

Thanks for the info guys!

I've yet to eat a better tasting potato than Pontiac.

And Ive never had a better tasting potato than my growing-store-bought-compost-pile potatoes! I never had any idea how good home grown potatoes could be until I grew them! Yum! IÂve been eating them, just boiled tender, with the few wax beansÂal denteÂIÂve been getting off my bushes every few days. Butter and salt! No better dinner!

My "potato garden" is 15" X 44", a total of 4.583 sq. ft! Not quite up to DigitÂs 100 sq. ft!

This is my entire harvest! I got just under 4½ pounds! The smallest ones were under a quarter inch!

The tops had died down completely by the time I got around to digging them up the beginning of this month. The half decomposed compost they grew in was way plenty wet when I dug them, and IÂm glad I didnÂt wait any longer, because a few of the smaller ones (under an inch) had rotted and were just mush! ButÂwhere the ones had rotted it was an absolute tangle of worms. They must LOVE rotten potatoes. As I was sifting thru the compost to find all the potatoes, I took the "balls" of worms I was finding and "distributed" them thruout the compost. I still canÂt believe how many worms IÂm growing in my compost!

I planted my "second batch" of growing-store-bought potatoes on the 16th! I have no idea whatÂs gonna happen to them, but the potato bed was empty and it made as much sense to "plant" them as to just throw them on top of the compost pile! And this was the "potato" I found when I was digging in my main compost pile last March, so if theyÂre going to grow anyway, I figure I may as well "plant" them! Who knows! With the potato garden being up against the house, and with the 2 X 12 board insulating the other side, maybe theyÂll be growing most of the winter!

Definitely no 16 tons here, Digit!
Skybird

P.S. Digit, your root cellar reminds me of the earthen root cellar we had in the house where I lived till I was 7! It was fairly small, and there was a "path" into it with the soil left a couple feet higher on each side of the narrow path, where you sat the boxes and bushel baskets. There were holes in the dirt which my brothers (4 and 8 years older) told me were rat holesÂthey were probably really mouse holes, but they sure looked big to me! Sometimes when we were in the basement my brothers would get me in there, then get out themselves and lock me in alone! I donÂt remember if they ever got in trouble when I started screaming, but I sure do remember being scaredÂin there alone with the rats! Ahhh! Happy memories of childhood!

At 1 pound/1 square foot: you've topped me, Skybird!

It won't be any trouble for DW and me to eat 60 pounds of potatoes this winter but if I grew the 143 pounds that the average American eats in a year . . . how would I process them?

There's no way that they would keep in my cellar over more than just the winter months.

Steve