1st potato harvest!

cherishedtiger · Mon Jul 18, 2011 11:33 am

So I went out into the garden last night just to get a few banana peppers that were ready when I decided to check the potato's and see if they were doing anything.
Dusted off the ground around one plant and tada! A huge tater... that got me going, around all of the plants I checked and dug (ever so carefully) after much fun and giggling my very first potato harvest as given me about 15 pounds of beautiful Yukon Golds! I wasn't even sure anything would produce as they grew up and quickly, yet never flowered and all started kinda looking puny and yellowish... but they proved me wrong!!

[img]https://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k82/cherishedtiger/DSCN0720.jpg[/img]

Oh, and I got some peppers too:
[img]https://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k82/cherishedtiger/DSCN0722.jpg[/img]
2 of those are already gone as they went into dinner last night, YUMMY!!!

I think I will for now on be planting potato's because I have never had so much fun discovering what I had grown!

Plants are all still in the ground, hoping they give me some more!

SPierce · Mon Jul 18, 2011 1:11 pm

What a great looking potato harvest

I agree that it's SO much fun to dig around in the dirt and see what they're doing- it's like digging for treasure! Congrats!

cherishedtiger · Mon Jul 18, 2011 1:32 pm

Thanks!! It was!!! I never knew potato's could be so much fun! I thought that they were all for not, was sure there weren't any down there, but sure enough!!

SPierce · Mon Jul 18, 2011 2:36 pm

cherishedtiger wrote:Thanks!! It was!!! I never knew potato's could be so much fun! I thought that they were all for not, was sure there weren't any down there, but sure enough!!

One of my containers never bloomed, either, but I found potatoes as big as my fist! It's a blast. Did you leave the plants in the ground to make more potatoes?

Brandywinegirl · Mon Jul 18, 2011 2:43 pm

Congratulations! I planted Fingerling Potatoes I got tons of them. I was on my knees for over an hour digging for more surprises. The Colorado Potato Beetles gave me a run for my money, though. Enjoy your harvest - I have started digging in the bag as I crave garlic dill potatoes with olive oil!!

cherishedtiger · Mon Jul 18, 2011 3:34 pm

SPierce wrote: Did you leave the plants in the ground to make more potatoes?

Yes I did!! I tried to be as gentle as possible as not to disturb them, any thoughts on when to check for more? A few months, weeks? I cant wait to get back out there! Told the hubby we are doing potato's every year now

and that he may have to build me a whole new box just for them

SPierce · Mon Jul 18, 2011 3:56 pm

I bet 3-4 weeks and you'll have more, small, yummy potatoes! When I brought mine up, they already had little potatoes forming on the root ball, so.. I guess it's a matter of waiting now to see what else I get!

cherishedtiger · Mon Jul 18, 2011 5:46 pm

I saw one itty bitty potato growing so I carefully put it back in the ground it was just about as wide as the root...
Thank you for the help! I cant wait to go back out and rummage around some more to see what I find!

MaryDel · Tue Jul 19, 2011 7:17 pm

Nice looking Yukons.

bcallaha · Wed Jul 20, 2011 8:27 am

I planted Yukon Golds for the 1st time this year. We have been quartering or halfing the potatoes, depending on their size, and frying them. They are almost too good looking to eat.....nice perfectly golden color. It takes me about 30 seconds to get over that feeling, though!!

Brad

jal_ut · Wed Jul 20, 2011 11:22 am

Woo hoo! Nice taters.

cherishedtiger · Wed Jul 20, 2011 11:34 am

Thanks!!! I think my husband is tired of hearing about my taters...

Hoping they give me more in a few weeks!

courtabuck · Fri Jul 22, 2011 6:37 pm

Your harvest looks great! We planted fingerlings for the first time this year and I have a very novice question... Do you keep watering? Do the plants just die back on their own, even when being watered? Or do you stop watering and let them die back (seems the potatoes would dry up this way)? Thanks for any advice!

cherishedtiger · Fri Jul 22, 2011 6:44 pm

Well, as my other thread states, I have been over watering

but I just watered as I normally do and they slowly started dying off. Never died completely, just got yellowish and not so full of life.
After that harvest one of the plants really is looking dead... I may have damaged it when picking, but the rest all look the same as they did before, kinda dying down, yellowing a bit.