My sons and I harvested our potato crop mid-August. My six year old daughter helped by grabbing all of the grubs for the hens! We grew German Butterball this year. Overall, I was disappointed in the yield. A large portion of the crop were very small. Many got nicked or chopped. And only a few were very large at all.

Sweet Husband mowed our patch off. I look back and regret letting the weeds ‘go’ so soon and not keeping them pulled. Even with the straw, I’m sure that aided the smaller yields.

Thankfully it’s been a dry spell. You’re not supposed to gather potatoes when it’s been wet. The mud sticks to them and causes the skin to come off prematurely.

We planted three 30’ rows all together. Our fingertips were sore from the treasure hunt. It was a beautiful morning and I tried to keep the sun on my back.

Most plants weren’t still held together like this. You can see the small to medium size here.

In the end we didn’t use shovels and I don’t own a potato fork (yet)! The boys and I are hoping to mulch with leaves next year and keep the weeds at bay for a longer stint.

The next step was to cure the potatoes for storage and preserve others in different ways. I sort them- I have newspaper spread out in the basement for curing (2 weeks). And plan to blanch(10 min) and freeze many, especially the smallest ones. I don’t have a lot of freezer space, but in order to can them, I need to peel them. And most of these aren’t large enough for that use of time.

Yield: 43 pounds

We have already eaten many smalls and they’re very good! Next year, we will expand our potato varieties and hopefully even include sweet potatoes!

What tips do you have for me?? I need help in the potato department. Please subscribe and get emails when a new post is published!