These are a dual purpose potato, so the french fries aren't quite as crispy as they would with a mealy potato. Even though they don't get that crisp when fried, they are very good.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Yukon Gold Potatoes are one of my favorite varieties to grow. I have not harvested the entire crop yet, but I went out to pick a couple for my son who'd been begging for french fries for the last several hours.
These are a dual purpose potato, so the french fries aren't quite as crispy as they would with a mealy potato. Even though they don't get that crisp when fried, they are very good.
These are a dual purpose potato, so the french fries aren't quite as crispy as they would with a mealy potato. Even though they don't get that crisp when fried, they are very good.
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8 comments:
I grew red potatoes this year, and my crop was pretty measly, just a potato or two per plant. Do you have any tips for how you grow yours? I planted mine under straw.
Sure. First, what variety did you grow? Where did you buy seed from?
Also, beware of the straw method... many people have had good luck with it in other areas of the US, but here it is more likely to become slug breeding habitat.
I bought the seed potatoes at Wilco, I don't really know what they were, just that they were red.
Hmmm...well, it's hard to guess what the problem may have been if you don't know the variety.
First you have to make sure you are buying quality certified seed potato and that it is a variety that would be well adapted to our climate.
Have you read Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades? This is a book that is worth every penny and will save you so much grief in your gardening efforts. You can buy it through my website if you wish. http://amysoddities.blogspot.com/2010/09/steve-solomons-gardening-books.html
Yes, that's my handbook - my success has improved tremendously since I read it last summer. I did get all my other seeds from Territorial, so I would be using varieties that do well in the NW, but I got the potatoes late as an impulse, so I just decided to try what they had at the feed store.
So what method do you use for yours?
Well, this year I tried something a little different. My front yard has awful clay problems, and attempting to grow potatoes would be an awful nightmare. So I decided to place seed potatoes directly on the clay soil, and brought in a truckload of soil and hilled up the plants with the new soil. You can see a photo here: http://amysoddities.blogspot.com/2010/05/soil-improving.html
I had to hill the soil up quite high... Like two feet... just to cover the growing vines. I'm hoping that this means that I had a good yield but could also mean too much nitrogen. In a week or two we'll be able to find out.
They say that you should get roughly 10 times the amount that you planted. I planted 8 varieties, a pound each. So a decent harvest would be 80#? I've already harvested 10 pound of new potatoes so far so we'll see what happens.
And here's a picture of the plants in the middle of the season: http://amysoddities.blogspot.com/2010/08/front-yard-garden.html
Nice, my potatoes didn't get more than a couple feet high. I also have very clay soil. I have been amending it with lots of compost shoveled out of my friend's llama stalls and homemade compost.
Next year I'll have to choose my potato variety more carefully and try planting them in the ground.
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