In the Potato Patch

[digitS']

The Dark Red Norlands are all out and the mature plants yielded between 2.5 and 2.75 pounds each. This is a lot better than I expected since the plants were so much smaller than the other 3 varieties. If there are more tubers with problems, I haven't found them yet. What I've got seems fine but cutting into them may or may not show why the plants were so small.

On to the Daisy Golds! Huge plants! Lots of small size tubers from the ones I've dug so far. Well over 3#/plant.

I may have crowded them too much. I had no idea that Daisy Gold would be such large plants!

Potato farmers sometimes crowd plants deliberately. Gigantic spuds are usually not what they want. I imagine that it reduces pounds to crowd.

Let's see, if I could get 20#/plant in a 100sqft bed with 20 plants ... I could grow enough spuds to feed all my neighbors in a garden the size of my living room!

Okay, I'll stop being silly .

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

This has been a great year for the potatoes here in south-est, central-est Wisconsin. Many of my Yukon Gold are much larger than I've ever gotten before. From a growing standpoint this year has had good rainfall and decent temperatures throughout their growing season. Now we are a bit slow with the rainfall, but the spuds that are flowering right now are huge, healthy-looking plants. . . . and not a bug to be seen on them! (Okay, perhaps some flea beetle-types nibbled holes in leaves, but no serious damage.)

Steve, I do know that I didn't crowd my potato sets nearly as much as usual (for me) and that I planted them deeper than I had in prior years. Not much of a help to me, now I don't know if it was the weather, the space, or the depth that has given me such good-sized spuds.

Don't get me started on the onions! This was a banner year!

 

[digitS']

The "Asian" greens sown behind the potato harvest are getting into serious need of transplanting to more space. The Holland Tyfon plants are LARGE and the Mei Qing bok choy came up densely.

This is not the weather for transplanting! Tomorrow, the high may be triple digitS again!

There is about 50sqft of "potato bed" reasonably settled to move them into but I will sow a little more seed in some of it. Those seedlings may take on greater value if I have continued trouble finding a few days to move the older ones.

I have sown snow pea seed in the potato bed where I have pulled the first new potatoes but the half-dozen plants pulled back in mid-July were not together. No moving pea seedlings so they went where the broccoli was growing. I had taken out the broccoli that had refused to grow properly. I think I 've got a soil problem in that part of the garden extension. We'll see how the peas do but ... they need some cool weather also!

Steve

 

[the1honeycomb]

My potato crop was a huge disappointment! I will be planting in my magic bags from now on I guess. changed up the sweet potatoes also and they haven't hardly vined out! I guess I shouldn't have changes what wasn't broken! hoping to plant some broccoli soon when is the best time for zone 7/8?

 

[baymule]

@the1honeycomb did you plant your potatoes in the dirt this time? I have my best luck planting in leaves mixed with horse/chicken manure. I rake up the leaves in the fall, mix with manure and let them sit over the winter, then plant in February. I get big beautiful potatoes! The ones grown in the dirt are smaller, so this past spring, I skipped the dirt all together. Why don't you try making a leaf pile this fall for spring planting?

 

[digitS']

It is fun to try new things. It is more fun to be successful. Two ways to have fun gardening.

Don't know about fall broccoli... never, even tried it!

By the way... the peas sown about 2 weeks ago were snap not snow. May fall on my face with that one, we'll see.

Steve

 

[digitS']

A few days, one of them triple digitS, and the weather changed ... pretty much. We had a storm with more coming. Nothing special I'd guess but some clouds and rain - I moved some of the Asian greens.

I won't need clouds and rain to plant more seed but it was a little late to get those already growing, thinned and transplanted. We'd better be eating some of @marshallsmyth 's Tyfon Holland greens.

Those things have grown like crazy in all the heat. Supposed to be a hybrid of Chinese cabbage and a turnip. This isn't too strange of a hybrid. They are both in the turnip family. I hope that the Tyfon Holland is good!

The spuds continue to come out, apace . I think I can determine the yield of the Daisy Gold ... and wonder what might have been if they were not crowded.

The Daisy Gold were no more crowded than their neighbors, the Norlands. The Norlands had exposed soil around them but they were half the height of the Daisy Golds.

Supposed to be large spuds, the DG's averaged 4oz. That's cute and usable ... The yield was 3.4# /plant of the little tasty spuds. DW said they made the best mashed potatoes ever . She was disappointed that I was unwilling to grow Yukon Gold this year. I guess I'm vindicated!

They may be the most productive of the 4 varieties. There are a few more of those plants then I'm on to the fourth and final. I don't have doubts about Peter Wilcox doing well but now there will be the production of multiple plants to weigh ... & taste .

You know how you can shred cabbage and cook it with potatoes, mashing the 2 together?? I wonder how that would be with Tyfon Holland greens .. .

Steve

 

[digitS']

oops!

Tyfon Holland plants do not transplant well! The Bok Choy is fine ... I had the idea that the roots of the TH plants looked like tap roots and, well, it didn't work.

There are lots more Bok Choy seedlings that need to be transplanted. I don't have room for all of them so they may go straight into the kitchen.

Missing from the picture is the Guy Lon. They should be okay. Using @journey11 's fall planting schedule - none of these things should have enough time before frost but this is baby Bok Choy and the plants can be harvested at any stage of development. Besides, I'm planning on moving some of these or others into the winter greenhouse again .

Steve

 

[journey11]

I know, it said I didn't have any time left for kale, but I don't care...I'm planting some anyway! Baby kale is still good. Really though, time just got away from me this summer. I was off to such a good start too.

 

[digitS']

I should post another picture of the Tyfon Holland greens. They survived their transplanting shock! I'd better not try that again, tho'. Some plants can be transplanted and do well and some take it hard!

We enjoyed the Tyfon Holland that I didn't transplant. It has a milder-than-mustard flavor. Really quite good and what remarkable growth from sowing during the heat of summer! They went through some very hot days. It will be interesting to see what the remaining plants can do with autumn weather.

Dug all of the 4th and final variety last week. Peter Wilcox potato yields were "variable." I was surprised but it may have been their location in the spud patch more than anything. They were planted very close to tall bushes that cover them with some morning shade.

Peter Wilcox plants yielded between 1 3/4# and 3 3/4# ! Yeah, I couldn't have seen that much difference in the plants but that was what was going on below ground. They only did about 1/4# better than the Norlands, on average.

When all was said and done: left to maturity, Daisy Gold had the best yield and looked like it could have done better if given more space. Viking Purple was a strong 2nd and a couple of the Peter Wilcox plants did as well as any of the others in the bed.

I'm not sure how conclusive all this was but I had fun and have lots of potatoes in the basement - pretty things! Next year, I think I'll change from the Dark Red Norlands. Sangre is a real pretty red and I was pleased with how it grew a few years ago .

Steve