One large, raw potato with skin contains the following nutrients:
- protein 7.5g
- calories 284
- carbohydrates 68g
- fiber 8.1g
- starch 57g
- vitamins A, C, K
- niacin
- folate
- choline
- omega-3 fatty acids
- omega-6 fatty acids
- calcium
- iron
- magnesium
- phosphorus
- potassium
- sodium
We have cut up some of the potatoes we harvested this spring to plant for a fall crop. The interesting thing about them, is that they came from the 'potato bush' that we grew from our crop from last summer (2013). When I was planting the garden this spring, we had a few small, shriveled potatoes left from last summer that had very long, leggy sprouts on them. We figured they were done for and were going to just throw them out. Well, I decided to pile them up in the corner of the garden and throw some dirt on them. They
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| 'Potato bush' in the corner of the garden, May 2014 |
We know from the history of the potato that many peoples have utilized this tuber as a part of their daily diet. Potatoes are high in carbohydrates and starch which are very important nutritional qualities in a survival situation. If we are sitting on the couch reading or writing blog posts, we probably don't need as many carbohydrates in our meals. Nevertheless, potatoes have been an American mainstay for many, many years. Ask Frank, the carnivore, meat and potatoes make a mighty good meal.
Until next time - Fern
O Wise One the carnivore is with Frank on the meat and potatoes making a good meal! Hello from Hickery Holler
ReplyDeleteCQ, you make me laugh. But, you know, I have to agree with them. Meat and potatoes do make a good meal! It's good to hear from you. Thank you for the laugh.
DeleteFern
This is my second year growing potatoes. Love em! Could you explain more about planting now for a fall crop? That's news to me - good news! Do you start with the just dug up potatoes? When will they be ready for harvest? etc. etc. Fascinating idea! Also there seems to be little worms - wire worms? - shallow burrowing in a few. Is there any organic remedies you know for this? Thanks for the great post.
ReplyDeleteI don't know of anyone else that grows potatoes for a fall crop, so the explanation is that it's something I wanted to try again. Last year I planted some fall potatoes, but it was too late. They grew, but the plants never got very big before frost. We dug the few potatoes that were there anyway, even though none were as big as a tennis ball. What I found out over the winter, is the potatoes we grew last spring started getting soft and wrinkled long before the fall potatoes. The fall crop stayed crisp until late winter, early spring. That made me think that the potatoes grown here in the cooler fall weather, as opposed to the hot summer, will store better for winter. This is strictly my theory, but we're going to try it again. The sources I read indicate a mature potato crop can take anywhere from 70 to 90 days, depending upon the conditions and variety.
DeleteYes, I am using the potatoes we grew this spring. The ones I cut up yesterday were dug sometime in early June (I think). I will leave them in the ground until after the frost kills off the plants, or until the plants die naturally, if they have enough time for that cycle before the frost gets them. One thing to know, is that even if a frost kills off most of the plant, if the weather isn't too cold, the plant will come back. That's what happened to us in mid to late April this year (it's in one of the spring posts on the garden). The plants looked awful, but came right back out and grew great. So I won't worry about the first frost of the fall season if it looks like we aren't in for an extended cold spell. Our first average frost here is October 31st.
I haven't had any experience with wire worms. A lot of people use diatomaceous earth for worms, but I haven't tried it yet. Potatoes like an acidic soil, so I would try wood ashes. Ashes are very acidic, so don't use too much. Maybe sprinkle it in the soil you use to cover the tubers as you plant. The sharp edges of the ash tend to cut into the soft bodies of some insects, but I really don't know about wire worms.
I hope this helps. Thank you for the questions, and good luck!
Fern
Fern - we have been growing our own potaotes and saving enough seed to re-grow potatoes every year for about 8 yrs now. we grow about 2oolbs of potatoes each year which gets us through august to march....then we just don't eat potatoes until the new ones, planted in end-march are ready in early august. potatoes are such a good source of so many vitamins and minerals and if you grow them in tires, depending on your frost dates, you can leave them in tires until your first frost. we start harvesting our potatoes in late august, only as we need them. and leave them in the tires until late november/early december, harvesting them only as we need them for meals until our first real frost. then we harvest all of them, put them in boxes in our basement (basically a cold room with a dirt floor), cover the boxes with towels, eat them all winter and still have enough at end march to use them as seed.
ReplyDeleteyour friend,
kymber
It is good to know that other folks are doing the same thing, just on a larger scale than we are. Thank you for including the details, it can help all of us learn a little more.
DeleteFern
Re wood ash for potatoes. Check this site
ReplyDeletehttp://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/wood-ash-can-be-useful-yard-if-used-caution
Terry
Fla.
This site has some good information, Terry, thank you for sharing it with us.
DeleteFern
Potatoes are such an important crop for calories and dense nutrition! I love growing them, but my season is so short, a second crop is something I've never even heard of. My first plants aren't even dead yet - still yellow and standing.
ReplyDeleteA fall crop of potatoes? How totally interesting. Great knowledge to have.
Just Me
Thank you, Just Me, it's another one of those things I just made up as I went along. I didn't know if it would work or not, but thought it was worth a try.
DeleteFern
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI felt it important to let you know how to stretch your potato supply.
In the spring, when our storage potatoes were just starting to get soft, I would boil the whole works up and peel them, then put them into meal-size freezer bags and freeze them. This has kept us in potatoes until the new potato crop comes in. Mashed or pan-fried, they were OK.
Another thing that I used to do when our potato harvest was poor, was to buy a large bag of dehydrated potatoes when it was cheap, then when I boiled some potatoes, I would not dump out the water, but added the dehydrated ones and mashed them all up.
Blessings,
Louise
This is very good advice, Louise, especially if we run short of our own supply of food. I have some dehydrated potatoes, but I hadn't thought of using them the way you suggest. Thank you very much for sharing.
DeleteFern
Been reading a lot of your older posts and as this one is from last year about this time, I'm not sure if you will see this but here goes anyway.
ReplyDeleteFor the last 15 to 20 years I have been planting and using the descendants of the original potatoes I bought from Gurneys seed Co. I bought the Red Norlands for an early potato, Yukon Golds for late summer and all fall eating and one half each on Russett and the other Kennebec for winter keepers. By saving the best ones of each crop for planting in the spring,we always have our seed potatoes "on hand" before they are ever needed! they are stored in milk crates in a root cellar dug into the north side of a hill behind the house. It is lined with rat wire to keep the critters from helping themselves. The temp varies between about 40 to 50 degrees depending on what kind of winter we are having. They are all marked with this sign, "DO NOT EAT THESE, WITHOUT THESE, YOU WILL HAVE NO MORE!! !". So far so good although I had a brown and black spot fungicide semi-decimate my crop. Don't know where it came from as I rotate the spuds on a five year plan.
Also have been growing sweet potatoes for the last two years and by properly curing them so that they form a good suberin skin over them, they are good for at least a year. I still have about six or seven from last falls late October harvest and cure! If you are interested go to Herrick Kimballs site and he has a link to where I learned all about them! This has been long enough so, TIFN! Everett