More About Potatoes

I had a couple of questions about the potatoes we harvested Saturday.

Kind- New Red Potatoes

When to plant- It depends on your area but here in Louisiana Jan-Feb.  You can also re-plant right now but we usually just till up that ground and plant something else.

When to harvest? When the plants seem to wilt/ begin turning brown & dying off.

How many did we get?  We did weigh them and ended up with about 180 lbs.!!!

Storage- We dust them off somewhat and then put into bags.  Burlap & crawfish sacks work great and that's what we use. We then put them in our large pantry.  You want them kept cool-room temp and dark. The burlap helps with that.    If you have a root cellar or basement & live in a less humid climate you would store them there.  (I saw where you can take a plastic tote and drill some holes to allow air to flow through & then store like that.  Looks like a good idea but I've not tried that.)

I check the potatoes about once a week. Look for any fruit flies & sour smells. If you have that you will need to search out the culprit potatoes & remove them immediately.

DO NOT store in the bags any potatoes that are wet or cut. They will rot & cause the others around them to rot too.  You can set those potatoes aside and use them first. 

You can also dehydrate & can potatoes.

What do we  do with all of them?  Eat them.  LOL  There are so many things to do with potatoes: fried, boiled, mashed, potato pancakes, potato salad, scalloped, etc.

We did grow a lot of potatoes but if kept properly they will last our family a long time.

I saw yesterday at the grocery store a 2lb. bag of small red potatoes was selling for $6.99!  So this year we are saving big!!!