In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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August 14, 2007

Colorful potatoes for Thanksgiving

Plant potatoes now and you’ll have a crop for Thanksgiving.

I’ve already harvested one crop this year: a mixed bed of All-Blue with its deep purple/blue skin and flesh; Red Cloud, a white-fleshed potato best baked or boiled; Cranberry Red, with red skin and pinky-red flesh that is out of this world sautéed; and Carola, a yellow potato from Germany. They came from Wood Prairie Farm in Maine.

Digging them was like searching for buried treasure. We carefully pushed the pitchfork into the ground a foot or two away from the plant, and lifted the soil. Imagine our joy, with each pitchfork, to see the soil crumble away to reveal pounds and pounds and pounds of potatoes. First I started collecting them in my hand, then by holding the bottom of my T-shirt like a tray, and then finally having to get a large basket for gathering them.

Fresh potatoes cook more quickly and are far tastier than any grocery store potato. They’re easy to grow, and pretty bulletproof. They do demand friable, rich soil (a raised bed works great) and protection from critters like gophers that like to snack on homegrown potatoes as much as you do. We have two raised beds with hardware cloth on the bottom to keep out the gophers and moles.

Plant certified seed potatoes from a reputable company. While the potatoes from the grocery store will eventually sprout and grow, introducing them to the garden is a bit risky: you could be introducing disease pathogens along with the potatoes.

Each chunk you plant should have a couple of eyes. Plant potatoes about two inches deep and 12 inches apart. As they grow, mound up the soil around the base of the plant. The potatoes are ready to pick after the plants bloom and die back. Some gardeners will dig carefully around the growing potato plants and harvest potatoes while the plant is growing, while others wait until the end of the season.

Bottom line: plant potatoes this month. If you've never had a homegrown potato, you're really in for a treat.

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