Before we could plant our new squash seeds, we had to do a little housecleaning in our garden. One of those chores was digging up some of our potatoes. The vines have all but completely died down on our red potatoes and digging them up to make room for the squash seeds was the logical step to free up space that wasn't begin utilized for something else. The hot weather caused the potato vines to wilt pretty quickly.
Don't you just love how the potatoes cluster around the plant's roots? I don't see many plants that have that feature.
We have been digging potatoes, one vine at a time, to cook the with our vegetables. Digging them up isn't a hard thing to do. Just dig straight down around the potato "hills" and use the shovel as a lever to "pry" the potatoes out of the ground. You can then come behind and pick up the potatoes. If you dig too close, you will probably dig right into a tender potato.
It's not hard to do and I think it is nice to gather your potatoes, wash them and store them in a nice cool place.
I don't know exactly how many potatoes we grew. We kept around thirty pounds, my sister kept some and we gave some away, too. Potatoes store well in a dark, dry environment. Mine are still sitting in the bucket waiting for me to clean them. That is one thing I like about growing potatoes. They need attention, but not immediately. You can leave them in the ground for awhile and dig them up as you need them. If you dig them, they are easily stored.
Our first meal with the new potatoes -- delicious oven fries, but they are good baked or boiled on food, like green beans. Looks like I might have to come up with a few more recipes for red potatoes, though.
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