harvest potatoe high rise square

**Josh** 5/29/2010, 5:14 pm

We have a 3 x 6 SFG just for potatoes and I had one square of potatoes in my SFG so I decided to go ahead and harvest my square and see if I had any potatoes. I used Mel's high rise method.

dmpower 5/29/2010, 5:23 pm

That is sooo cool!! Congratulations!!
Is that this year's harvest? How long ago did you plant them 6-8 weeks ago??

Megan 5/29/2010, 5:24 pm

Very nice! What was your overall high-rise depth?

**Josh** 5/29/2010, 5:45 pm

They are this years and I planted them around 3-31. I decided to take them up early cause I wanted to see if there was any potatoes in there and to free up one of my squares.

The high rise is made from a 1x4 sitting on the original 1x6 inch deep box.

In our potato SFG we have two of the 1x4 high rise boxes sitting on the original 1x6 deep box and that is as high as we are going with it.

fkarl 5/29/2010, 6:44 pm

Nice job on them taters! I'm brand new to gardening period and have started with the SFG method so thats all I know...... no bad habits for me to break. I have also planted some potatoes and they are growing vigorously! 6 inch original depth of the box plus two 4 inch strips added on top of that! I will "hill" them up tomorrow and probably just let them grow at that depth. 14 inches ought to yield me a bunch don't you think?? Nice videos by the way, thanks for sharing!

Retired Member 1 5/29/2010, 7:49 pm

That's a great harvest of new potatoes out of just one square. Good for you!

cherriesjubilee 5/29/2010, 9:34 pm

Josh,
This is excellent! It will be a while before I'll take on potatoes. Very impressive.

Ha-v-v 5/29/2010, 9:55 pm

Im so encouraged Josh !! I have 4 sq ft of potatoes in a 10 inch box 1x4 box.. and then I have a raised bed of sorts with 14 sq ft of pototoes !! And thats what you got with one square foot!! Im encouraged. Thank you so much for sharing !

Ha-v-v

PB 5/29/2010, 11:14 pm

Great Josh!! I didn't plant potatos this year. Maybe next.

Momma Pajama 5/30/2010, 9:19 am

Wow! Awesome harvest for only a few months! I am also trying potatoes for the first time this year. I have 2 red potato squares and one white baking potato square. I think having a separate potato bed would be a good idea!

Lavender Debs 5/30/2010, 9:42 am

Suddenly I'm thinking bins are a mistake. That looked so easy.

Chopper 5/30/2010, 7:17 pm

Aha! I was inspired. I have one plant (the one on the right), as you see below, that was just not cutting it. So, I dug it up (planted about a week before Josh) and got four very small potatoes. And, I was hungry. So I actually ate them without taking pictures! LOL. They sure were tender!

Potatoes - harvest potatoe high rise square 5_may_30

Potatoes - harvest potatoe high rise square 5_may_30

**Josh** 5/31/2010, 5:30 pm

It was fun to see how many I was going to get, I didn't think there would be that many,there was 4 about the size of a baseball,the others were just bit size. My mom cooked them on the grill with butter and they were GOOD Potatoes - harvest potatoe high rise square Smilie_yummy

Potatoes - harvest potatoe high rise square Smilie_yummy

**donnainzone5** 6/1/2010, 10:34 am

I've been growing potatoes (or trying to) since my Oregonian brother told me a couple of years ago that I COULD grow them in my yard, since they don't require much sunlight or water.

Well, I overwatered some and, until this spring, harvested only a few tiny ones.

But voila! I've dug two squares and harvested 4-5 spuds from each. Most of these are about 5-6 oz., about the size I buy at the supermarket. The others go into sauteed recipes or stews. And they are delicious!

Shoda 6/1/2010, 12:14 pm

You folks got me thinking about potatoes and then Home Depot had a a bag of starters SO.... I had to buy it! It says it is for red potatoes and it says to harvest in summer. I am assuming that is because that is when they are actually going to be red.

If I wait to harvest until the tops die off in fall, won't they be brown? Aren't red potatoes and brown potatoes basically from the same plant, just harvested at different times?

Ha-v-v 6/1/2010, 12:54 pm

Red potatoes are potatoes with red skins, meat is white. I have adirondack blue and their meat will be a bluish color, cant wait for these !! I just now have leaves and they are a bluish hint in their green. I have russets that are in longer than the blue and so excited !! This is my second year with potatoes, last year they were red and my soil and the gardener herself were lacking. We got tiny new potatoes to share. This is a link I found here on the forum I think.
Seed Potatoes

Our first leaves of the adirondack blues

Potatoes - harvest potatoe high rise square 102_0916

Potatoes - harvest potatoe high rise square 102_0916

I would like to try lots of varieties as I get going:)
Ha-v-v

Chopper 6/1/2010, 3:16 pm

My dad used to have the philosophy that if you are going to have a vegetable garden, you should have things you can't get at the store easily. Those potatoes are a perfect example. I think I am going to branch out a bit there too. Sounds like fun.

Ha-v-v 6/1/2010, 3:33 pm

My dad used to have the philosophy that if you are going to have a
vegetable garden, you should have things you can't get at the store
easily.

Sounds like my parents, they would take us out every so often my sister and I to a "fancy" dinner. We said what do we order, they said.. order what you cant have at home. You get burgers at home all the time, get a steak etc. I love that thought Smile

Just reverse and boy do I like it, we have green egg laying hens for this reason too. I love color and the garden and life offers so much I want it all !! Am I asking for too much ? Its the oxygen going to my head from all my SFG plants doing so well.
Ha-v-v

**Josh** 6/1/2010, 5:05 pm

I've got to try those blue potatoes next year! I've never seen a blue potato!

**timwardell** 6/1/2010, 5:17 pm

Nice harvest Josh. Congrats. Very Happy

Megan 6/1/2010, 6:37 pm

Shoda wrote:You folks got me thinking about potatoes and then Home Depot had a a bag of starters SO.... I had to buy it! It says it is for red potatoes and it says to harvest in summer. I am assuming that is because that is when they are actually going to be red.

If I wait to harvest until the tops die off in fall, won't they be brown? Aren't red potatoes and brown potatoes basically from the same plant, just harvested at different times?

No, red and brown potatoes are not harvested at different times from the same plant. They are different varieties. Red potatoes are a 'waxy' potato, while brown potatoes (also known as Russett, Idaho, Maine, or Burbank) are 'starchy' potatoes. (Yellow potatoes like Yukon Gold fall somewhere in the middle.) Waxy potatoes hold their shape well when cooked and are best when boiled, like you would do for potato salad, or baked in a casserole such as scalloped potatoes. Starchy potatoes get fluffy, and are best used baked in their skins, mashed, fried, french fries, etc.

That is not to say that most of the time you can't use one for the purpose of another, just you may not get ideal results. Really good french fries (the type you par fry first and then fry a second time at a hotter temp) will not work with waxy potatoes, though, and I doubt Potatoes Anna would, either.

Here is a link to the National Potato Council which has more information.

Hope this helps! Smile

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Red Potatoes vs. Brown

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