Spuds

Last year I grew potatoes for the first time and it was SO much fun and So productive that I saved enough seed potatoes to plant twice the amount this year. The key to storing seed potatoes successfully is finding the right place to store them over the winter. They should be stored at about 40-45 degrees F in complete darkness and the air should not be too dry. I had trouble finding the right storage spot, but finally settled on the cargo hold of the boat. And it worked out perfectly! They are in beautiful shape.

Ideally they should be just starting to sprout in March. If they haven't started you are supposed to put them a sunny spot indoors where it is warm to get them sprouting, and then they should be planted outdoors mid-April....Some of mine are already aggressively sprouting....

.......some have sprouts that are an inch or two long....

.....and some have tiny sprouts you can barely see.....

The aggressively sprouting spuds went into the sunroom fridge that is set at about 40 degrees F (An average kitchen fridge is too cold for seed potatoes). The rest are setting in baskets in the sunroom, getting warm and soaking up some sun (well, light anyways).

The neat thing about seed potatoes is that you don't have to save large spuds to replant....you can save little ones, plant them whole and still end up with a good crop of spuds... many of them being surprisingly large. Here are some tiny seed potatoes that a friend gave me....

Now those are tiny! Tinier than anything I've planted before....so  I will probably plant 3 or 4 to the tub just to be sure.

I'm so excited about growing spuds this year...I'm more prepared and am looking forward to a grand harvest!