Hot Potatoes - for Every Purpose
Here at High Mowing, we LOVE potatoes. They always appear at our monthly potluck lunches, they're endlessly versatile in the kitchen, and they store beautifully--an important feature in a state where the growing season is a mere 120 days (in a good year!) They make a great early crop for farmer's markets, and come in such a wonderful range of colors, flavors and uses these days that just about everyone can pick a favorite. Everyone...except Paul.
Paul Betz has earned the affectionate nickname "Potato Man" here at HMOS, and is without a doubt our resident expert. Normally, though he is a Commercial Grower Sales Rep and an organic farmer at High Ledge Farm in Woodbury, VT. He grows many varieties on his farm each season, conducts trials, and always knows what to recommend at the end of the day--but of course, as a true potato connoisseur, what he recommends will depend entirely on what you want to do with your potatoes. So next we'll introduce all of our new potato varieties, and include Paul's thoughts on each.
Early Season
Purple Viking
Paul: "Purple Vikings make beautiful new potatoes and are visually exciting at all stages. If allowed to grow to full size, they also store well - a very versatile potato with great flavor."Outstanding yields of spectacular deep purple potatoes with rich flavor - a winner in our taste tests! Bright white flesh is moist and firm, adaptable for many types of cooking. Vibrant purple skins are flecked with pink for an eye-catching early market offering. Compact plants; good Scab resistance. Compact habit • For fresh market. (Solanum tuberosum) Disease Resistance: Scab Mid Season Yukon Gem
Paul: "Yukon Gem is a much-improved version of Yukon Gold, offering all the same great qualities as Yukon Gold but with better disease resistance and significantly higher yields."This mid-season variety features bright gold skin, pink hued eyes, yellow flesh, and the same delicious flavor as its parent Yukon Gold. Resistance to blight and scab make this a fantastic potato! Round to oval tubers mature about 10 day later and are significantly higher yielding, especially in wet conditions. (Solanum tuberosum) Red Chieftain
Paul: "Red Chieftain is awesome for storage and is super uniform - much more so than Red Norland - but it matures a bit later than Norland, so I recommend planting both."Large, oblong red tubers with very good flavor and storage potential. Thin coppery-red skins and shallow eyes make this a beauty on the table or at market. Delicious boiled; a treat as a new potato. Superior flavor to Dark Red Norland with better storage potential. Very resistant to Scab. Stores well. (Solanum tuberosum) Disease Resistance: Scab Late Season Elba
Paul: "Elba is one of my favorites - it's incredible mashed, standing up in amazing fluffy white peaks with delicious flavor. It's also great for storage."High yields of large potatoes with buff skin and delicious white flesh. Easy to grow with good disease resistance, especially to fungal blights. Ideal for baking and salads; excellent storage potential. Stores well. (Solanum tuberosum) Disease Resistance: Scab UPDATE: Our potatoes ship by April 15th, but we recommend ordering as soon as possible - varieties sell out quickly. Check out all of our potato varieties here and learn how to green-sprout potatoes in Paul's article from last year.
Categories: Ask The Expert, Beginner Gardeners' Guide, Variety Highlights, Trials, Commercial Growing & Growing Tips
Posted On: February 12 2015
Posted By: High Mowing Organic Seeds
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Great question! You can absolutely plant early season varieties later. The advantage of early season varieties is that they mature faster than mid- or late-season varieties, so you have more flexibility about when you plant them. If, for example, you plant peas on April 1st, they will be finishing up around the middle to end of June. You can then plant your "early season" potatoes where the peas were. Purple Vikings would work well for this purpose because they also store well.