I've never been so excited about potatoes!

Full disclosure: I really don’t like potatoes.  Nice and crispy fries or wedges, maybe, but anything else and it’s a hard pass for me.  So you know I was really going for wife points when Jon said he wanted to plant potatoes this year.  (I think it’s just because Matt Damon did it in The Martian, but whatever.)  I planted them and amazingly they sprouted up nice and big but promptly died off midway through summer.  I figured we gave it a shot and didn’t think much of them.

But last weekend I was starting to close up the garden Jon asked if I was going to dig up the potatoes.  I gave a half-hearted, “Sure” figuring at least I’ll turn over the grass and weeds that are growing in the plot, but on the second scoop I found potatoes! I was so excited!  (It doesn’t take much.)

...I think this is where I planted them..

All in all I found a couple dozen of varying sizes in the general vicinity where they were planted.  It was really cool digging them up since I honestly didn’t think there would be anything there.  The hardest part was not digging straight through them and slicing them in two, like I did on multiple occasions.  Whoops.

When you expect nothing, size doesn't matter!

This made me realize two things.  First, I’ve got to plan better.  While we started off strong, I should have maintained the “hill” they need to grow to help mark where each plant is.  Once the foliage died off early I was digging blind and definitely lost a considerable amount of the crop.  Second, I need to research better.  It wasn’t until I started digging that I questioned how deep they may grow.  Typically, they are in the top foot or so of earth, but in sandier soil like we have they can get much deeper.  I dug down about a foot but really didn’t feel like digging deeper since it was 90 degrees out!  I’ll hit the grocery store when I run out, thank you very much. 

Next year, I plan on making a potato box like this one above to keep better tabs on them.  The removable sides allow for easier harvest and will allow more to grow in a smaller area.  Plus, potatoes are one plant that really need to be rotated where they’re grown, so the fact that I can change out the soil yearly is a big plus.

As for now, the potatoes are curing in the basement a couple weeks until their skin gets a little thicker.  Freshly dug potatoes can be used immediately, but it does take a couple weeks for that tougher skin to develop so they last longer.  

I don’t think these will be hanging around though.  Jon found the best roast potato recipe online last year and even though it’s labor intensive, they’re sooo good.  It’s a Serious Eats recipe you can find here.  Basically, they're parboiled in water with baking soda, adding extra starch to crisp up awesomely in the oven,  The garlic and herb infused oil that goes with it brings these potatoes over the top.  It's not a quick recipe, but it is mostly hands off.

At least now it's almost chilly enough to use the oven!  Happy fall!