The first year I grew potatoes, there were Colorado Potato Beetle larvae on the leaves just about as soon as they came up, even though no one had ever grown potatoes there before. I picked them off and had a great harvest. After a few years of not growing them, I succumbed to domestic pressure and planted them again. My husband says that freshly-dug potatoes are several cuts above their sad supermarket counterparts, and he’s right. This time I’m growing All Blue, Yellow Finn, Red Ruby and a fingerling, Princess La Ratte. So far, my garden has been unaffected by late blight.
"All Blue" and "Princess La Ratte"
I harvested the first potatoes this week, some fingerlings and some blues. I always find digging potatoes kind of like that TV show, “The Deadliest Catch,” where the crab fishermen never know how they did until they haul up the trap. With potatoes, you dig around – gently, so as not to damage any – and probe your way through the bed. Sometimes you come up with a jackpot and other times, just a fork full of soil. Anyway it’s kind of exciting, and way more fun than picking beans.
Digging RI 
I’m the “Queen of Laze” when it comes to potatoes. I amend the soil with compost, dig a trench 4 inches deep and 12 inches wide. Then push the seed potatoes about 1/2″ down and 12″ apart into the amended soil and fill the trench with clean, weed free straw. As the potato plants grow through the straw, add another 4-6″of straw. Water as necessary to keep the straw evenly moist; you don’t want it to be soggy. You can start to harvest fingerlings as you normally do in August. Just pull back the straw, take what you need and carefully replace the straw. When the tops die back, harvest the rest. No cut potatoes from digging with a shovel, and the potatoes are much cleaner!
LikeLike
Great idea. I’ll try that next year.
LikeLike
Has to be fun…when it’s your own harvest.
Thank goodness no late blight here either.
We’ve had weed free straw for 3 years in a row then….millions of weeds…the straw even sat all winter so any seeds could die off.
Go figure.
LikeLike
I guess that’s one reason I’ve been reluctant to use straw. I’m always afraid of what’s lurking in there!
LikeLike
I’ve never had a problem with straw and have been using it for years now. Once I used hay in error and it was a weed disaster!
LikeLike