potatoes under straw

Watch out! Looks like you got a chunk of potato dirt in your coffee.

Congrats on the spuds.

I'm still speechless over the pest removal crew! How much you paying them HollyAnnS? Is there a Texas office I could hire?

They look so pretty standing on those rocks.

I bet you could hire some out, if you actually wanted to. I was just watching on PBS that there are hundreds of traveling bee hives that get trucked from job to job across the country.

Now, I'm not necessarily a city girl. Those ARE chickens, right? Some small, sporting breed?

Ya'll stop laughing....

LOL on the pest control team. Ric and I had chickens at one time many years ago when our children were younger. Our grown son decided he wanted to raise some chickens a couple of years ago. He has about 2 dozen hens and a couple of roosters, quite a nice assortment of different varieties. They thought we might enjoy having a few again and gave us 3 peeps at Easter and built a small hen house for us as the old one is long gone. Said if we get tired of them send them back. Ric calls them "The Girls". There is a Barred Rock (Henry), Buff Orpington (Sally) and Partridge Cochin (Pat). They have a small fenced yard in the garden but we let them loose most days when we are working outside, they follow us all around the yard and stick their beaks into whatever we are working on.
Here they are helping Ric with one of our projects.

Looks like a very cozy setup for all. ^_^

Holly~does your tub in the pic above actually have running water to it? What do you use it for (other than decoration)?

Stephanietx, Yes, It's a water garden, that pic was taken when we were working on the project. There is a filter/pump that circulates the water in the tub through the drain in the bottom to some copper piping and back into the tub through the facet. If you would like to see the whole project check this thread. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1008082/
Here is the finished (well do we gardeners ever really finish) picture. That my GS feeding the small fish that live in the tub.

Pretty! Nice use of color.

Brilliant!!

My poor mother is rolling over in her grave at the sight of that porcelain tub sitting in your yard. Actually, she's rolling over laughing! I can't say "dying laughing" 'cause she's already dead...

We still have her working claw foot tub at home in NOLA. She had it resurfaced about 15 years ago and outfitted with brass fittings. It's chocolate brown on the outside, and mocha on the inside. You need a stool to get into it, but boy when you do, it's like sitting in a swimming pool! And your toes don't bump into anything!

It took six men to carry it upstairs. It took six men to carry her bedroom door upstairs...
It took six men to carry her industrial walking foot sewing machine upstairs...

I'm feeling a theme here...^_^ "It 'ain't heavy, she's my mother?"

ROTFL!! Gymgirl, you're a hoot! :-D

LOL, Yeah, I'm right there down on the floor, too. We spent a week in NOLA pre Katrina and found it to be a lovely area. Stayed out in the Garden District such beautiful old homes.

I grew up in the Broadmoor Area. Our family home is on the historical registry.

They were interviewing homeowners when they updated the list back around 1980 and were looking to designate more homes as "historical". The requirements were that the homeowner had to live in the home, and there was an income limit for qualifying. My mother made the income cut-off by $1.

Our home was repainted in a traditional color scheme, a new roof was put on, and the electrical wiring was redone -- all at City Historical Preservation Fund expense.

And, did I mention that our home is within a section of approximately 8-12 square city blocks that did NOT flood during Hurricane Katrina? And, that there was a watermark 18" above the hardwood floor level on the outside of the house, but not a drop of water on the floors (or anywhere else) on the inside of the house....?

But, God...!

Hey, guys!

I've had some Yukon Gold potato spuds since forever in a cabinet at work. I bought them waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in DECEMBER 2009 at the top of this thread, and they look like they wanna live.

I've ordered two 20-gallon Smartpots to plant some Yukons in January 2010. Do you think I should try to make slips from these, or just get some fresh? I hate to kill life that wants to live so desperately.

P.S. It's dark and cool, in the cabinet they've been in.

I'd plant 'em. Sure can't hurt.

I think they're real troopers for surviving and deserve a chance. I also think you'd have a very significant head start on the rest of us.

Planting potatoes in January, I just can't get that through my head.LOL We can't even think about it till Good Friday. Coarse if we tried to plant today we'd have to shovel a foot of snow out of the way first! Those Yukons may suprise you if you can keep them in adark cool spot till you plant them. Ric

HollyannS, ours will be finishing by the time yours are getting started. I think you've got it better for the taters since you can grow them all summer and we've just got a short window.

I've tried the slips, but they never took when I planted them outside.

Well, we found some potatoes that had become "lost" in the pantry and they are little red ones (?) and they are sprouting with a good 2 inches of growth. I'm in 7b. Do you think if I plant them now they will make it? From reading this post I would ordinarily like to have waited until maybe mid-late February before trying my hand at potatoes (haven't grown them before) but the sprouts are there now. We might get a few freezes, but usually doesn't drop much below freezing and our ground never really freezes hard. Anyone in 7b planted potatoes this early before?

Plant them on Valentine's Day, Stacey.

I am hoping someone here can help me. Where would be a good source to purchase potatoe slips online? I need potatoes that grow best in southern states and warm climate.

Hi Becky...

Do you have a feed or ag store nearby? They would be your best source for potatoes that grow best in your area and you could buy seed potatoes there. I've never purchased them online so can't recommend anyone, but if you google "certified seed potatoes" a large number of suppliers come up!

Hope this helps...

Kelly

Sorry to sound so dumb but I have never heard of potato slips except with sweet potatoes. Is that the same as seed potatoes? I order potatoes every year from Ronniger Potato Farm. They have potatoes in stock right now. http://www.ronnigers.com/index.html

I reviewed the Ronniger website and it looks good. I'm using my local Whole Foods Store for organic spuds to use as seeds, plus the survivors from last year. But, I need 2 hedge my chances with some true seed spuds. I'd like 2 also try some Kennebecs and Fingerlings. I've ordered two 20 gallon Smartpots, and soon as they're delivered hopefully I'll be ready 2 plant some spuds. I'm gonna take a calculated risk against our Houston weather and plant some spuds sooner than January 15th. Maybe 1/2 on New Year's weekend and the remainder on the 16th. We shall see.

I think these sprouts I have will probably be dead by February, so maybe I need to just order some seed potatos and then plant them then.

Thanks for the help Stephanie. I saw on one of these forums (?) that your Green Zebras didn't take that freeze a few weeks ago well. My cherry tomatoes had a couple dozen almost ripe ones that met their demise then too! Hope you managed to save some seeds though. If not, I might have a few extra to spare. Let me know if you need a few. :-) Stacey

You can break off the sprouts from white potatoes and root them, much like the slips from sweet potatoes.

I've tried this, but as I said, didn't have good results. As in, they mostly died when I planted them out.

They usually get frosted several times in my zone and without good leaves they can't do the photosynthesis. By planting a piece of the potato they get energy from it to keep growing new leaves in spite of the setbacks.

Gymgirl, you really ought to try the fingerlings. I've read someplace that they are like new potatoes that can be stored. What I know from experience is that everyone in my family loves them. You only need about 1/2 the quantity as regular seed potatoes. Last year I planted the little bitty ones that were left over from the year before and had a nice crop. Kennebec are a great all purpose potato.

Good luck,
Donna

Thanks Donna.

So, Twiggy, if I'm reading you correctly, there are more benefits to planting either the whole small spud (with at least 3 eyes), or a scabbed cutting, rather than going with the slips? What you say does make sense. thanks!

gardadore - Thanks for that link! Looks like a good company to order from! Now to figure out which potato cultivars grow best in the heat of Florida...

~Becky~

beckygardener, I've ordered from Ronniger's and had questions. The people at Ronnigers were more than patient and informative. They just acted like I was a neighbor that needed some guidance. Hope this helps.

Ok, I just placed my Ronniger's order for 1/2 lbs. each of: Yukon Golds, Kennebecs, Purple Vikings, and Red Thumb Fingerlings!

This is gonna be exciting!

Ooooh that sounds good. I'll expect to hear all about it ...please.

I am going to try to perfect my technique with the cheapos this year and if all goes well I'll try some exotics next year (2011). I really could eat potatoes every day.

I'm sure you'll be satisfied, Gymgirl. I always get a good crop with then. But 1 lb. is only about 10 seed potatoes or "cuts" (You cut a potato in half or more around the eyes to get 2-3 spuds). With 1/2 lb. you may be disappointed in the amount (probably around 5 planting spuds) but you have an interesting variety. There are always more fingerlings than regular potatoes. Good luck and enjoy. Can't even think of planting anything with the cold and snow at the moment!!

Hey Gardadore. I calculated based on the Smartpots recommendation of 1 seed potato per every 3 gallons. I ordered two 20-gallon Smartpots, 2 plant with 5-6 seeds per. I also have two 24" planters 4 de other 2 potato varieties. So how big should the pieces be?

The size of the pieces will differ from potato variety to variety depending on how they send them. I always order the 1 lb. ones. Last year they sent me 3 large potatoes for the Bintje which I let sprout to cut into only 6 pieces because they didn't sprout that much. I personally prefer it when they send 10 small ones per variety to plant whole rather than 2-3 big ones to sprout and cut. Other varieties included 10 small potatoes which I planted whole. Other larger potato varieties with 5-6 potatoes produced enough eyes to cut up into 10 to 15 pieces. The fingerlings I usually just cut in half if very long. Sometimes I even get 3 pieces from one which can make a total of 20 or more. Fingerlings can be wonderfully prolific. I recommend that you wait till they arrive, let them sprout before planting, cut them where necessary and then let form a scab for a few days before planting. I've never planted in Smartpots but you will probably be fine with your calculations.

Do you eat fingerlings mostly as roasted potatoes, or are they good for mashed potatoes? Maybe it depends on the type of fingerling?

I think I'll plant maybe a couple different varieties of potatoes, looking to try something different from what's in the store, but I'm not sure which varieties I'll plant. Suggestions?

We eat the fingerlings roasted with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. I think there's alot of ways to fix them but I always get stuck doing it this way because we love them so. I like Rose Finn Apple and Banana. I've also tried the French they're good but I like the others better.

Hope this helps,
Donna