Well, despite our best efforts and great plans, our potato harvest this year has been another failure. Let’s look at the numbers:
German Butterball
Planted – 5 lbs
Harvested – 3 lbs 1 oz
All Blue
Planted – 2.5 lbs
Harvested – 2 lbs 14 oz
Sweet
Our sweet potatoes were a bonus this year as they were only planted after a piece of a sweet potato was thrown in the compost and decided to sprout. When we found the sprouts, I took the potato and plopped it in one of our raised beds. The foliage was gorgeous and it is possible that there are a few more potatoes in there because I haven’t dug out the entire bed yet, but so far I’ve only found one single (beautiful) sweet potato weighing in at 13 oz.
The verdict
We will no longer attempt to grow potatoes on our little farm. Potatoes are, unfortunately, in no way worth the time, effort, or money it takes to attempt to grow them. The monetary cost, in water and seed prices, far outweighs any of our tiny harvests. So, going forth, potatoes will be off the Grow List.
I have to say, I am quite disappointed. We purchased good quality seed potatoes, set them up on drip, added good soil and straw regularly to “hill them up” and even pinched their flowers in an attempt to boost their spud growth. All to no avail. With growing space at a premium, there are other crops that could easily be planted in their place that would produce much more bang for their buck!
Moving forward, we’ll leave the potato growing to the experts! I guess that gives us one more item to add the Farmers Market shopping list!
How did your potatoes do this year? I sure hope that your potato crops fared better than ours!
xoxo,
M
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I love growing potatoes! I have them tucked all over the garden and flower beds. I find them super easy to grow…just plant them and walk away!
I don’t grow potatoes anymore since I’m sensitive to all the nightshade crops (sadly). Too bad about the lack of yield. And I hope you find more sweet potatoes under the ground. I’ve really grown fond of them after growing them for the first time last year.
Well, your potato experience is about the same as mine, so I don’t grow them anymore either. They are not one of my favorite foods so it’s not a big deal, although my husband would love some homegrown spuds.
So sorry about your results. Next year I was planning to try them; now I’m having second thoughts!
I harvested 73 pounds of potatoes from 5 pounds of seed. The weights would have been greater, but I tend to dig a lot of “new” potatoes (I can buy “old potatoes at the grocery store). I don’t even bother with hilling any more, just plant my seed potatoes 9″ deep and 12” apart in soil that was amended with composted cow manure at the end of the previous growing season. I do add 2-3 inches of chopped leaf mulch as they grow, as we get such hot weather that dries our soil quickly. I never pick off blossoms, I tend to just plant, water and forget….they do their own thing without my help. I also plant just the old stand by varieties every year, Red Norland, Yukon Gold and sometimes Russets (not my favorite, but best for French fries and good for storage).
You have some sort of potato genius ability though….
Nope….they did the same here. I was thinking the same way you are–forget it, I give up, no potatoes for us. But the truth is is that they are a calorie dense food, and can be stored easily. They are really worth it, for the food value, as long as I can get them to grow properly. I’ll let you know if I figure it out! 🙂
I can no longer eat potatoes, due to allergies, but I’m very interested in growing sweet potatoes.
Sorry about your potatoes! Financially I’ve found that it’s best to buy the basics at the local ag store where seed potatoes are much cheaper (but you don’t get much choice of variety). Mine failed this year too, because they had blight and most of them rotted within a week of harvest. It was heart-breaking!
The method for growing sweet potatoes is to remove the sprouts from the potato and plant the sprouts about a foot apart in well loosened soil. The sprouts root easily. If your ‘mother’ sweet potato wasn’t locally grown the variety may not be well suited for your area. And my recent post on my sweet potato harvest shows timing matters.
Did not grow potatoes this year, lacking space. A few bloggers grow potatoes in containers so am planning to do so next year.