Yukon Gold Potatoes in Table Top Beds

Yukon Gold Potatoes.  I planted the seed potatoes in 6-7" of Mel's Mix in 3 squares in a table top bed mid-February.  I harvested them yesterday, May 2.  They were getting leaf spot so they had to come out of the bed, ready or not.  (Not early blight, thank goodness)  They are an early variety and supposed to be easy to harvest.  I cooked one in the air fryer, coated with olive oil and sea salt.

3/17/22


4/3/22


Harvest 5/2/22, 5/2/22




For breakfast 5/3/22.  I poked holes and baked them in the air fryer with olive oil and sea salt.  First 90 seconds in the microwave and then 7 minutes at 390*F in the air fryer.  Just a tad under cooked but still uncommonly good.

Aust 26, I planted 9 small Yukon Golds from the early April harvest.  Yesterday this beautiful show of flowers appeared.  I have no idea of the significance of flowering, but I hope it's a good sign. I expect to harvest sometime in November. ?? Never grown a fall crop before.

sanderson wrote:Aust 26, I planted 9 small Yukon Golds from the early April harvest.  Yesterday this beautiful show of flowers appeared.  I have no idea of the significance of flowering, but I hope it's a good sign. 

Have you ever seen potato fruit? They look a lot like miniature tomatoes. They actually form seeds to reproduce themselves.  When I was a youngster I worked summers for a fruit farm and one of the jobs was to cut the bloom stems off potatoes because the grower believed the potatoes used their energy to form the small fruit instead of forming tubers. Don't know if it actually made a difference, but it was a summer job....

Found a page with a picture of the potato fruit: https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/what_are_those_fruit_growing_on_my_potato_plants

OG, Thank you for this link. Very interesting.

You're all quite fortunate to be growing Yukons.  For the past 2 years we have been unable to get the seed potato shipped here.  It used to be the only potato I grew.  The taste is better than any potato I've had.  I don't know if I'll be able to get them next year.  I sure hope so.  I don't know why we can't get them.  The darn things in the store are sold sterile.  Someone, send me some seed potatoes!  Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease   

Idaho is such a Russett state. The Yukon Golds in the grocery store are not sterile. They have probably been treated to suppress sprouting. It's a temporary treatment and they will eventually start sprouting.

Really???!!!  I was told that they were sold as sterile!  WOW!  If that's the case, then I'll just get a small bag and hold a few of them for planting.  They have gone up so high in price, same as the red potatoes.  Living in Idaho, you kind of don't care for the russets except for fries and maybe baked.  The Yukons are so buttery and smooth.  The taste and texture is so different than any potato around.  Thanks for the info Sanderson.   

sanderson wrote:Idaho is such a Russett state.  The Yukon Golds in the grocery store are not sterile.  They have probably been treated to suppress sprouting.  It's a temporary treatment and they will eventually start sprouting.

A couple thoughts:

1. If concerned about the growth inhibitor applied to the potatoes, buy organic potatoes. Organic potatoes cannot have any chemicals applied to them.

2. To speed up the process of potatoes sprouting, place them in a box with sliced apples. The apples will emit ethylene gas which encourages the sprouting of the potatoes.  Note: This will not work with GMO apples as they are bred to not decay.

WW, You've got 5+ months until March-April to experiment. YG are early potatoes so you should be able to grow them easily. No hilling needed if planted 5" and straw mulched after they are up. I'm assuming that the beds are cool and need the sun at first. The straw will protect any potato that is at the surface. I was going to say "happy spudding" but spudding is an actual word!

sanderson wrote:Aust 26, I planted 9 small Yukon Golds from the early April harvest.  Yesterday this beautiful show of flowers appeared.  I have no idea of the significance of flowering, but I hope it's a good sign.  I expect to harvest sometime in November.  ??  Never grown a fall crop before.

I'm in central OK, and grow fall Yukon Golds every year. I plant Aug 15th because anything earlier seems too hot for them to germinate. Last year it was early December before they died back all the way and I dug them up. It also got cold here early and delayed them a bit. Remember, the foliage is very frost sensitive, and they have to be covered if it's going to get near 32F. I don't have the wonderful frames that you have for covers -- I use home-made bent wire hoops and old sheets, especially flannels. If a leaf is touching the sheet and the sheet freezes, the leaf will die.

I think it's going to be too late for me this year.  Our days haven't been above 75 for over 2 weeks now and it looks like we may be getting a combination of snow/rain between the 21st and 23rd this next week.  That means we'll be getting our first frost.  We usually don't get that until after Halloween.  These LaNinas have really been dumping on us for the past 2 years, and now, this year.  Last year, at one point, I had 4 feet of snow sitting on top of my boxes.      Mind you, we actually had 2 weeks of 100+ during the summer but my sister in CA said they had a lot of 100s and it started early.  She said her garden was thriving.  They put in a misting system and put up shades.  She said the combination of both is what probably saved her garden.  She also said that some critter has been stealing cantaloupes.  I asked if her critter had 4 legs or 2.  She lives in Sacramento.  As it is, I'll probably be canning green tomato relish.  We just needed a couple more weeks of heat.

I'll check and see if our local grocer has organic Yukons.  I'll have to go out and cut back my Ark Blackberries so I'll have blackberries next year.  My starter canes were only 10" tall and now they're over 6 feet!  I think my 2 cherry dwarfs, my Thimbleberry bush, and my peach dwarf will be needing a miracle in the Spring.  I'll be covering their base with straw.  Right now they kind of look dead but the University said just wait for the Spring.  I know I have about 2 more years for any fruit, but I'm getting anxious over it.  Meanwhile, I'm still planning where everything will be in the garden next year and I may have to get one of those new metal oval planters - they kind of look like horse troughs and they come with a trellis.  It would work well for the blackberries.  Let them grow to 5 feet and then hang them over the trellis so the tips will go back into the soil to make new canes.  In 2 years, I could probably make my 2 original canes into 8 canes.  I just have to keep it away from the fence or the deer, elks, moose, and bears will be getting it before I can.  

Well, nough said.  Love chatting with y'all.  Good weekend to you all.

Everybody remember that Yukon Golds (and other potatoes) do not need pollination and can be grown indoors over the winter if you have a large window or patio door that gets sun for a few hours per day. They don't mature as fast as those in full sun outdoors, but you still get taters! And not a single Colorado Potato Beetle!

I don't have pictures, but I use 5 gallon kitty litter buckets with MM. I get a length of 1/2" PVC, cap the bottom and drill 4 or 5 side holes, and put it in one corner to water. You can surely use other sorts of buckets, and those popular cloth bags.

The hardest part is finding seed potatoes this time of year. Maybe you'll have some old ones sprouting in your pantry?

I have a deck with windows, but it's way too cold in our winters.  Last year we had 2 solid weeks of below 0 temps - the coldest was -17.  I'll wait patiently.  If it's one thing we gardeners have it's patience.  We only get mild winters here if there's an el nino but 3 years of la nina  - no one knows what that will be like.  But, during the la ninas, there's hardly any hurricanes on the east coast.  On el ninos, they have to run through the entire alphabet for names.  We've never had a 3 year la nina cycle before.  I guess we'll find out...

WhiteWolf, that’s a really good idea for the raspberries!  They get so invaded by grass and weeds in my area it’s futile at ground level.

Scorpio Rising wrote:WhiteWolf, that’s a really good idea for the raspberries!  They get so invaded by grass and weeds in my area it’s futile at ground level.

SR, there is a pick-your-own raspberry farm near us that does not clean nor cultivate their berries. They just mow around them, and the acre of raspberries looks like a lawn with berry bushes in it.

It looks like I missed one of the Yukon Golds from the fall crop, the August planting for a November harvest.  It's growing up in the square with late spring lettuce square!  The lettuce will be gone very soon with the heat.