As you saw in my post about deer proofing our sweet potatoes, I had some potato plants that had died, so I needed to pull them up and harvest them. The bed that I harvested was all a red variety from Johnny’s Selected Seeds (an absolutely fantastic source for seeds, asparagus roots, and seed potatoes). I wasn’t very hopeful because this bed doesn’t get watered by the sprinkler system and the plants didn’t get that big.
I didn’t take any photos of the harvesting process because I forgot to bring my phone and I just wanted to get it done because it was HORRIBLY hot. Anyway, imagine that someone put a bunch of potatoes in a hole and then stuck a potato plant on top. They were unbelievably easy to harvest and there were SO MANY.
My first step was to wash them gently and sort out any “culls” that wouldn’t store well because they were already turning green, something had eaten on them, or they had other issues.
Here is the container full of the culls.
My husband and I peeled these (20 lbs.) of potatoes and made them into mashed potatoes for the freezer.
Then, I had to deal with the rest of the potatoes.
I got out 3 of my half sheet baking trays so that I could sort these by size. (I did find more damaged potatoes that I’ll have to use shortly so they don’t rot.)
I am going to store these in the basement. I haven’t grown white potatoes before and I have been shocked at how easy they are to grow, and how much they produce. This partial harvest totaled 65 pounds of potatoes. I have already harvest over 20 lbs. of Yukon gold and I have French Fingerlings still to harvest but my back needs a few days to recover before I do that.
Cathy At Home on the River 