Thursday, July 24, 2008

my first potato harvest

fresh potatoes
potatoes before potato bed after

I dug my first first potatoes today.

I have a very large patch devoted to potatoes this year. About 5 x 15 feet. I am happy it seems successful so far.

The plants grew nicely, flowered, and then this past week or so they started to die back. With all the rain, they got soggy (rotten stems, etc), and so today I chopped off all the stems and cleared the patch. Before and after photos are above.

I pulled a handful of potatoes that were up near the surface. Some were partly exposed and some I found with a shallow search in the dirt. I found a mix of red and pink and white baby potatoes.

I was very happy to mix these with our evening vegetables. They were excellent. Fresh and yummy. I like to parboil potatoes a few minutes and then sautée in olive oil with a mix of garden vegetables. Basic stuff.

Something about the combination of potatoes and beans is very nice. It is interesting that vegetables that ripen at the same time taste great together. Garlic, onions, potatoes, summer squash and beans are ready now and all are delicious together.

Recipe:
Chop into 1 inch pieces: fresh baby potatoes, pole beans, onions and sumer squash
Chop fine: garlic
Marinate: vegetables with garlic and olive oil
Parboil for 4 minutes: baby potatoes and beans
Sautée 2 minutes large skillet in olive oil: parboiled baby potatoes
Add to skillet: onions, squash and beans. Sautée until squash is tender and browned.
Add sea salt to taste.


potatoes (Solanum tuberosum)
harvests from my vegetable gardens

6 comments:

Chiot's Run said...

MM, they look delicious! I'm hoping to have a nice potato harvest this fall. I only planted 10 seed potatoes. I did plant 25 sweet poatoes, but a groundhog ate most of the plants - UGH.

Maryogim said...

so many ideas for next season come to me after visiting your blog... never thought of planting potatoes! congrats on the great harvest!

qaz007 said...

You patatos look awsome I hope my patatos look taht good when I dig them up.

kathy said...

Potatoes are fun because you don't know how great your crop is until you dig. My 15 year old son had fun digging up some potatoes today. It seems to me they are a pretty reliable crop. Good luck digging!

Lisa said...

I've had so much fun growing potatoes in the last couple of years. I wouldn't want to have to rely on my crop through the winter, but the fresh harvest is totally delicious. Enjoy!

Unknown said...

Great potatoe picture...which are the spuds and which are your fingers?! I love it.