A dish of thinly sliced fingerling potatoes, roasted with pancetta, olive oil and finely minced onion is pricey when served at a fine restaurant. But why pay fancy prices for fingerlings when you can easily grow them yourself?
Potatoes are one of the easiest root crops to grow. Just ask Ernie New, vice president of White Mountain Farm near Alamosa. Since 1987 he and his son Paul, the farm’s president and CEO, have been growing specialty potatoes in the San Luis Valley.
The farm grows and sells certified seed potatoes and certified organic potatoes. They ship to customers all over the country.
The San Luis Valley is a special place to grow potatoes because of the cool nights, intense sunlight and the sandy loam soil. But New says gardeners can grow potatoes at home if they just plant them, keep them moist, keep the weeds out and hope that it doesn’t freeze. Or hail. Or freeze too early in fall.
“There are some bugs that can be devastating and some diseases that can be devastating,” he says. “But there’s nothing worse than watching 130 acres of crop go down in 20 minutes during a hailstorm.”
Varieties for home gardens
The potatoes grown on White Mountain Farm are called specialty potatoes because they don’t fit the strict definition of heirloom potatoes. The farm grows many colors, shapes and flavors of potatoes that aren’t usually seen in the local produce department.
For gardeners who want to grow their own specialty potatoes, New recommends selecting and planting several varieties based on how they’ll be used in the kitchen. Some potatoes are naturally better for frying and baking; others are better for boiling. It all depends on how much starch they contain.
For example, the red Sangre can be used for frying while the Yellow Finn is better for mashing. Yukon Gold is a good frying and baking potato.
Another baking potato that’s as good to look at as it is to eat is the All Blue. “It’s a beautiful color, but a lot of people have trouble eating a purple potato,” New says.
As with growing any vegetable along the Front Range, check the number of days from planting to harvest and look for early and midseason maturing varieties. Some potatoes can take from 100 to 120 days to mature.
Potatoes can be a good vegetable for gardeners who are short on patience. New potatoes can be harvested while the vines are still green.
Spring planting is best
Potatoes like cool weather, and spring is the time for planting. New says most gardeners place their orders for seed potatoes in the fall in anticipation of spring planting. Customers who live in warmer climates, like Arkansas, New Mexico and California, like to have their potatoes in the ground by March 17.
In Colorado, potatoes can be planted a few weeks before the last frost date. New says potatoes can tolerate a little frost if necessary.
Purchase and plant only certified seed potatoes to prevent spreading potato diseases. Potatoes from the grocery store aren’t good for planting because most have been treated to keep them from sprouting.
Potatoes need a loosely packed, well-drained soil like the San Luis Valley’s sandy loam. Improve clay or sandy soil by adding organic matter and deeply digging it in. Fertilizer can also be added.
At White Mountain Farm, they plant potatoes in shallow rows. As plants come up, the soil is gently hilled around the plant. Hilling keeps the soil cool and makes room for the tubers to develop.
Additional hilling is needed throughout the season to protect the tubers from the sun. New says potatoes will turn green if they’re exposed to sunlight for too long; it also causes a bitter flavor.
Potatoes are usually planted several inches deep and 1 foot apart in rows that are about 30 to 36 inches apart. But planting in rows is only one way to grow potatoes. Because spuds develop on stems above their roots, they can be grown in garbage cans, inside stacks of discarded tires and in stacks of straw.
Keep soil just right
“Potatoes are almost drought- tolerant,” New says. “They need to be kept moist, but not too moist. And dry, but not too dry.”
Too little water means the plant won’t set tubers or the tubers just won’t grow.
Too much water, especially after the tubers form, can cause diseases like potato leak. Fungus- like microorganisms cause potatoes to become soft and to rot in the ground. Plants will use the most water when the vine is actively growing and the tubers are developing. When the vine starts to decline, the amount of water can be reduced.
Insects that like potatoes include psyllids and Colorado potato beetles. New says these can be treated with organic soaps or commercial insecticides. Check with your county extension agent for specific treatments.
Because White Mountain Farm is certified organic, no chemicals are used unless required by the Department of Agriculture for disease like late blight.
Some varieties of potatoes are being developed to be pest-resistant. The “King Harry” is an early season, yellow potato specially bred with hairy leaves to protect itself from flea beetles and potato leafhoppers.
Fall is harvest time
Once the vine has died, potatoes are almost ready to harvest. New says to leave the potatoes in the ground for several weeks before digging them up so the skin can set. Potatoes can be kept in a cool, dark place, like a cellar, for about three months. Don’t store potatoes in the refrigerator, where they will develop a high sugar content.
At White Mountain Farm, potatoes are harvested in the fall and then stored in the dark and kept at 40 degrees with 95 percent humidity.
New also keeps a good assortment of potatoes in his cellar. For frying he favors Yukon Gold, but for baking he prefers All Blue. It just depends on what he’s having for dinner.
Parboiling a pot of fingerlings before deep-frying them is one of his favorite recipes. “Season ’em up and put ’em on a plate,” he says. “They won’t last long.”
Jodi Torpey is a Denver-based garden writer and author of “The Colorado Gardener’s Companion: An Insider’s Guide to Gardening in the Centennial State.”
Getting started
To grow potatoes, you’ll start by planting small potato tubers or pieces of tuber referred to as “seed potatoes.”
Many mail-order suppliers cut seed potatoes into the proper size for planting. If you get larger tubers for planting, cut them into pieces the day before planting so the cut surfaces have time to dry before being put in contact with the soil. Each piece of tuber should have at least two buds, or eyes, and in general, the pieces should be 1 1/2 to 2 ounces, or about 1 to 1 1/4 inches in diameter. Plant very small seed potatoes whole.
After amending your soil and loosening it to a depth of 1 foot, plant your seed potatoes with the cut side down, eyes up, about 2 to 3 inches deep. You should see sprouts in two to three weeks. When the plants are 8 inches tall, cover them again with loose mulch or soil, leaving some of the leaves poking out. Continue covering the plants as they grow, until your hill is a foot tall. This helps the plants to produce long stems and more “stolons,” from which the tubers develop.
From “The Veggie Gardener’s Answer Book,” by Barbara W. Ellis (Storey Publishing, $14.95)
