New Potatoes from Our Garden
Our potato plants are doing very well this year and I’ve already spied a few flowers. Once a potato plant begins to flower, you know that there are some potatoes forming under the soil. I usually wait a few weeks after the flowers show up to start digging new potatoes from the garden, but we’re all out of them and I’ve been impatiently waiting for those first earthy gems.
You might also like to read about my First Green Onions of the Season.
I really hate to dig up the whole plant to harvest the first little potatoes of the season. However, you don’t have to sacrifice the rest of your crop to have new potatoes. Gently scrape the soil away from the sides of the plant to uncover your first harvest, then hill the soil back up over the roots. You can enjoy an early treat without sacrificing the plant and its future production this way. Oh sure, you won’t get as many large potatoes later on, but you won’t regret it as you dine on some new potatoes!
Of course, you can dig the entire hill and harvest all of the new potatoes, but you’ll want to plant extra to provide an early harvest, the main crop, and storage potatoes for the winter. I like to plant several varieties of potatoes for an extended harvest, with some for early use and others for storage.
My Gram M used to cook up these little beauties along with shelled peas in a pan with milk and butter. Add a little salt and pepper and you’ve got a meal fit for a king!
I like your photos, Lisa Lynn. Yes, I do harvest new potatoes. I recently harvested about a dozen and added them to a (secret) tortellini soup recipe I made for a neighbor who’s recovery from hip surgery. I have more potatoes to harvest…I hope 😉 Thanks for the post!
Your soup sounds delicious, Sally!
Hello, I am going to try freezing my extras this year – peeled & cut up. I’m not sure it would work if more than hash brown size. New to canning this year, so might try that too
I’ve read that you can freeze hash browns, but I’ve never tried it. I wonder if they need to be cooked first?
New potatoes and green beans. Or kale! With cream and butter!! Hey, of you’re going for this great treat, why not go full fat?!
Sounds delish, Kate!
next year I will have my farm and will be able to plant ad eat one of my favorite starches.
Best wishes with your future farm, Regenia! Stop back and let me know how everything is going!
Great article. I too am growing potatoes again this year. Can’t beat the taste! How do you store your potatoes over the winter? We have no cellar and heat our small home with wood….so I don’t have a “cool” place to keep them. I canned mine last year and really enjoyed then that way but would love to hear any other ideas.
Hi Staci,
You could also clamp your potatoes. Dig a big pit in you garden or yard. Line the bottom with straw or dry leaves. Pile the potatoes in the middle. If the pile is big, you should pile them in a doughnut shape or use a pvc pipe with holes drilled in it standing up in the middle to ventilate the pile. Cover the potatoes with another deep layer of straw, leaving the top of the pipe open. Cover with a tarp or plastic and then soil.
I think that Mother Earth News has a complete description of how to do this on their site somewhere. You can also put the potatoes in a trench and cover with straw, soil and tarp. They you just uncover in the winter and bring in what you can use up before they go bad.
I hope this helps!