Digging Potatoes

The potatoes have been in the ground since March 6, plenty enough time to allow for mature tubers to develop underground. Plus, the plants are beginning to die back. Today's the day we dig for buried treasure!

We got quite a good haul this year ... nearly 60 pounds of potatoes, representing my best yields ever!

Here are the numbers:

Chieftain Red was the best overall producer, coming in at 22 pounds. Banana Fingerlings were not far behind at 18 pounds. We harvested 11 pounds of the gorgeous French Fingerlings and a disappointing 6 pounds of the Yukon Golds.

Of course, we found about 3 "potential" pounds of large Yukon Gold tubers that had been eaten up by shiny black millipedes and snail creatures. The entire inside of lovely potatoes, gone, turned into stinky, runny, mush. Eeewwww!

I sorted through all the potatoes, gently knocking off dirt, setting aside tubers exhibiting any sign of damage or the beginning of root growth. (Those potatoes would be destined for our dinner plates tonight) The rest are laid out on newspaper in the basement to cure for a few days before being boxed / bagged up for long term storage.