GOT POTATOES!

[Lazy Gardener]

Here's a somewhat goofy video about Magic Molly. If you get past the goofiness, there's some good info about the virtues of this variety.

 

[baymule]

They sure are pretty too!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I dug a hill of Pinto Gold yesterday. Some of those tubers were HUGE! Supposed to be a fingerling, but they rivaled many of my standard potatoes. Not only were some of them very big, BUT, the hill produced an abundance.

I'll try to insert a pic and stats on size of largest tuber, as well as total weight yield of that one hill. In the mean time, I have 2 new MUST have varieties for my potato crops in the future. Both of them were bought "on a lark" at the local Natural Living Center. (Magic Molly, an other fingerling, is also a winner, IMO, though she doesn't crop as heavily and her tubers are smaller, though some of them are about 4 oz.) I'll set aside some of each variety to save seed for next year.

https://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/pinto-gold-new-potato-developed-university-maine/060118

 

[Lazy Gardener]

@Beekissed , more info about your Butternut canning please. I've found that Butternut DOES NOT freeze well. I've prepped it for the table, and frozen the remainder. When I thaw it out, the texture has changed to rubber! Do you make a prepared soup, or can chunks of Butternut?

 

[baymule]

This would be good information to have. I haven't grown butternut in a long time, but I just might! Isn't it supposed to keep for awhile as it is, in the skin?

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Here's an article that states that a RIPE butternut will store 2 - 3 months, if cured and stored properly.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-store-butternut-squash-1389335

I've had good butternut store almost till Christmas. This year, the season was so short, that I had to pick all of my squash before it was ripe. It still may develop some sugars in storage, but the storage life will be cut drastically. How to tell if a squash is ripe, and ready to pick?

The first tendril on the vine just past the squash will be dried. If the squash is prone to such color changes, the bottom of it, where it rests on the ground will also turn yellow or orange. Butternut: a green one will have faint green veins running down it under the skin. A ripe one will be uniform buff colored with no green.

 

[Beekissed]

LG, I've not tried canning just butternut yet, as I can't imagine how I'd use it unless in making pies and I don't often do that. How I can it usually is in soups...I use the butternut, diced fine, as carrots in a soup or stew. It holds up better in soups and each little golden square melts in your mouth with a sweetness that carrots don't have.

I've even cut them up and eaten them raw in ranch dip, much like I would a carrot, they are just that good.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Somehow, I just can't share your enthusiasm! Yes, I've found that home grown butternut is an entirely different vegetable than store bought butternut. But, in no way, shape, or form, do I consider butternut to be any where as wonderful to eat as a good carrot!!!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

@Beekissed IIRC, you planted potatoes one fall. How did that crop turn out? I'm thinking about planting just a few. One of the articles I'm reading says to dig a DEEP trench, layer it with leaves, put in whole potatoes, cover with an other layer of mulch and then the soil. Theory being that the extra organic matter will rot over the winter, and provide extra nutrients, as well as some heat. My concern about doing that is: I fear that the extra organic matter deep in the soil will attract wire worms. I'd be more prone to plant them in existing soil, and mulch HEAVILY with composted chicken litter, and hay after ground freeze.

It seems like a sensible plan to plant some spuds in the fall. The volunteers left behind after harvest survive and produce good crops without special attention. And, if it makes sense to fall plant garlic so the root system can get established, why wouldn't the same hold true for potatoes?

Any other readers have experience planting potatoes in the fall for spring/summer harvest?

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Forever pushing the envelope. Searching for info about fall planting potatoes in zone 4. Not much printed about zone 4, but I did find this article! http://www.thesurvivalgardener.com/planting-potatoes-in-fall-in-ontario/

I'm building some RB, so will plant one bed to a few potatoes, and mostly garlic. They should happily share the same space. I'll wait until the weather is consistently freezing at night. In the mean time, I'll set up a mouse bucket. Don't have a lot of luck with that practice, but... a girl can always hope!