This week I moved beyond my gardening comfort zone in two ways. First, I took steps toward growing potatoes, which I've never grown before. And second, I ordered them from a catalog.
Sigh--I know what I said about garden catalogs. But I made an exception because this is not your typical glossy catalog. I got my potatoes--and some plantin' onions--from The Maine Potato Lady, who from Guilford, ME makes my claim to New England winters sound like a joke. When I called and spoke to Allison--the Lady herself--I knew that this was someone who took potatoes seriously and wouldn't lead me astray.
Plus, she had all kinds of great varieties--and organic seed!--that I'd happily never heard of. I decided to go patriotic with a "red, white, and blue" theme. I chose:
- Colorado Rose - red with white flesh, salad-and-roast-ready
- Yukon Gold - white with yellow flesh...your classic mashers
- All Blue - blue skin and blue flesh with a ring of white. Gotta love a blue food....
I am kind of enjoying the beginners mind that the potato bed is giving me. I've never practiced "hilling" on any plant--a must for growing potatoes. I've never worked to cut "seed pieces" from potatoes (each seed piece should be the size of a hen's egg, with 2-3 eyes). And I've never actually seen a potato flower before, and my choices promise blue, violet, and purple blooms.
(Botanical question to investigate: why, if potatoes are underground tuber-types, do they put energy into flowers? Besides to make us happy, of course....)
In closing, I just had to go hunting for the "boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew" homage to potatoes from Lord of the Rings. What's 'taters, Precious?
(image via: http://lavendercreek.wordpress.com/)
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