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The theory: Potatoes, corn, shelled beans and peas are starchy vegetables and can be seen as the staples of our diet. Depending on one's dietary requirements these are the vegetables we could eat every day and they are also the vegetables we can grow in large quantities without getting into broad acre farming. Tasmania is not only famous for its apples but also for the potatoes. Many varieties of potatoes are grown here as well. A full list of all potato varieties grown in Tasmania is available here. We grew five varieties this season (2008): Pink Eyes, Kennebec, Dutch Cream, Tasman and Bintje. How we planted: each planting is a single row of potatoes, four metres long, about twenty tubers, each tuber 80g to 150g in weight. Before planting soil is dug up to form a shallow trench and left at the side of the trench. This soil is later raked back into the trench as the plants grow. Three litres of Complete Organic Fertilizer were dug into the trench before planting. All tubers were planted five to ten centimetres deep in the trench. No further fertilizer was added later.
The last planting of Dutch Cream was a little different from all the others: we planted it to find out if it was still ok to plant at such a late date. We planted in the much shadier kitchen garden, while all other potatoes were planted in the vegie garden. We had to use organic table potatoes from the supermarket rather than seed potatoes, as we couldn't buy any seed potatoes this late in the year. All in all, we didn't hold much hope for this lot to be successful. How wrong we were!
Pink Eyes are an early maturing potato and can be planted as soon as the danger of frost has passed. Frost will burn the young plants. We didn't want to protect them with poly-tunnels or straw and waited until August 22nd, when we planted a four metre bed with 20 tubers. In hind side, we could have planted quite a bit earlier, but every year is different. Frost is really only an issue after the plants appear, in this case September 20th. The next time we may try a planting after the beginning of August plus a second one two weeks later and maybe a third one around the end of August. The Pink Eyes grew very well and without any problems. They are usually eaten fresh from the garden rather than stored. Apparently they don't keep very well. We didn't try out storing them, they tasted just too good and we ate them all!
Kennebec were the second lot we planted. We did that because they are supposed to be an "early mid-season potato." As we found out none of our potatoes (except Pink Eyes) did extremely well when planted before October. Kennebec were a bit of a disappointment after eating Pink Eyes. They tasted good but tended to become too soft and mushy. Much better for mashed potatoes but also roasted. We planted a second lot of Kennebec in October and the plants produced twice as much! We harvested them when the stalks were withered and the soil was still dry. Bintje planted in late September did well. The stalks had withered by late January. We were told, that it is best to leave the potatoes in the ground and only dig them up when autumn rains soak the soil and the potatoes may start to rot. We dug them up in late March and discovered that many of the potatoes had already started to sprout again. Too late! Next time we will plant those potatoes intended for storage around the middle of October and dig them up once the stalks have withered, late March or early April. We haven't tasted Bintje as yet. Dutch Cream are our potatoes of choice! They taste terrific, they cook well, they grow well without any problems, and planted in October they produced really well! The first planting in September only produced half the amount, and like the Bintje, we left them in the ground for too long, for weeks after the stalks had withered, and when we dug them up, they had already started to sprout. Well, now we know better! Tasman are large reddish-brown potatoes and our October planting produced reasonably well. They tasted good, just not quite as good as the Dutch Cream. We harvested at the right time. The stalks had fallen over and were withered, but hadn't completely disintegrated as yet. The soil was dry. Tasman are not a bad potato, but we just like Dutch Cream so much better! Seed potatoes versus table potatoes: The plan for the next season:
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