Harvesting & Storing Potatoes: A Full Demonstration

[@RjsMomma94]

I just harvested my potatoes, it's one of my favorite garden tasks. As I'm watching you turn over soil, I'm getting excited: "I see a potato! YOU MISSED ONE!" lol. Thanks for the tips, I learned a couple of things!

[@DavidMFChapman]

I harvested 23 lbs of Kennebec potatoes 🥔 from my 4’x4’ bed in my Dartmouth front yard!

[@maritimegardening4887]

Nice haul Dave!

[@francismeowgannou5322]

The good ol stick!

[@luckychicav7981]

Hello Greg, that’s great, digging for treasure!☺️👍🏼

[@maritimegardening4887]

Yes it was

[@joanneauburn9047]

Hi Greg! I started watching your videos last year March 2020. Previously I've always tilled. Watched my father do it that way for years. Of course I got busy with my first hougle bed. And another. Needless to say huge success! I'm prepping the rest of my garden this fall. I have 2 horses and 2 ponies. Unlimited manure. Chickens too. Sorry this is long But I'd like to share how I plant and harvest my spuds with you. The horses bedding (wood shavings) comes in large plastic bags (from Canada 🍁) they are rectangle and about 3 feet tall. Being plastic I write the variety with a sharpie marker on each bag. Then slice holes in the bottom, use a mixture of dark composted manure and peat and perlite seed starting mix. Then I add some ash from the fire pit. I roll the bag down put in about 4-6 inches of my "soil" mixture in and plant. As they grow I keep adding more soil mixture and unroll the bag upward. I get about 4-5 plants per bag and get 5-10 pounds each bag when harvested. I keep starting new bags (consecutive planting) when it's time to harvest I dump the bag into a wheelbarrow. What a joy to harvest, never leave a potato behind! Me being 50 something it's much easier on my back. Although I do ask for help lifting the bag up to the wheelbarrow. I'm all about reuse and recycle. I then use that dirt in the wheelbarrow to start a new bag. End of the season I save all the dirt refresh with some more manure next season and I start the cycle over again! This mixture is loaded with earth worms and castings. Love this video because I've always failed at trying to store them. Thank you for what you do! I strive to have a garden as big and beautiful as yours. Love your recipe vids too! I actually succeeded with the starter for bread, made a great sourdough loaf!! Unfortunately I was recently diagnosed with Celiac disease no more gluten! 😔 My garden has never been so important to me. I'm growing my own food, healthy, clean, food! (Loved your other video "gardening is not just a hobby") Shared it on Facebook. Are you on Facebook? Happy harvesting!

[@maritimegardening4887]

Hi Joanne - sorry to hear about your diagnosis with CD. Yes I'm on facebook - just look for maritime gardening :) Don't add too much of that ash to your potatoe soil - potatoes like acidic soil and ash is alkaline :)

[@francismeowgannou5322]

I grew some potatoes with your method this year! Got some horse manure and stuck some taters in, mulched it deep and walked away. I got some fingerling potatoes as big as my fists! Thanks for all the info!

[@maritimegardening4887]

Nice work!

[@inge6280]

We’ll try some potatoes again next year

[@wardroland270]

Thanks Greg. Great job.

[@maritimegardening4887]

Thanks for listening

[@juliemacdonald9243]

I love that you are so practical about it all! I just had to watch because our potatoes are ready to harvest too. I live in Cape Breton. Thank you!

[@maritimegardening4887]

So nice of you

[@hands2hearts-seeds2feedamu83]

I am working on growing my second potato harvest, the first one was planted in March and dug up in July. And the second ppanting was planted in July, they seem to be doing good.

[@laurahockman6341]

I growled when you mentioned voles! 🤬🤬 they drove me to tears, lots of frustration & a re do of my garden. Excited to try some new varieties of potatoes this year & not worry about voles.

[@maritimegardening4887]

You can do it!

[@laurahockman6341]

@@maritimegardening4887 when I started my re-do of the garden a couple of weeks ago, I started by catching up on your channel of videos I missed over the winter! Your channel always gives me the excitement & motivation to get my butt in gear, especially when I’m feeling like I bit off more than I can chew! A big thank you for all your hard work!!! The only thing slowing me down this week is the arctic air that is making me freeze my butt off. 🥶❄️🤬🤣

[@kathmandu1575]

Excellent video - always a great channel.

[@maritimegardening4887]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@snarkydinkfarm329]

Digging up potatoes here in Central Michigan too, big fun, I planted 5 varieties this year...

[@moundtd]

Hey great video lots of good tips cheers

[@maritimegardening4887]

Thanks 👍

[@NewMindGarden]

Nice video.. 👌

[@maritimegardening4887]

Thanks 😊

[@DsHomeyGarden]

I am so excited here and Atlanta I harvested my first crop in May, put them in my 40 inch deep pit with gallon buckets of ice, changed the ice out daily and the temperature has stayed between 40 and 55 degrees and this is the middle of September and I've only had six show any signs of sprouting.

[@michaelboom7704]

Yup that handful of small potatoes is the size I used with a very nice return.Like you say its a a bother to deal with those small one when cooking...if I do cook them its usually early so I don't think about peeling.

[@MatthewSherriff85]

Love a good potato harvest, i have 8 varieties here in Australia at the moment

[@pseudoscientist4585]

8 wow, i plant 3 different kinds.

[@MatthewSherriff85]

@@pseudoscientist4585 i started with 3 last year, but i got a good deal for a 5 pack this year, just trying to figure out what does well and trying to have enough to be succession plant as i can grow them all year here, i have some videos on my channel if you're interested in seeing the harvest, all growing in grass clippings

[@pseudoscientist4585]

@@MatthewSherriff85 will do. ya i have a white for baking, red everyone likes, and a purple kind that is sort of in the middle.

[@MatthewSherriff85]

@@pseudoscientist4585 I'm mostly doing good chip (french fry) varieties but i have some red

[@anitast.9043]

I am not digging, I'm pulling up my no dig potatoes with my hands. No tools necessary because the soil is nice and soft and loamy. I would not have believed the method worked had I not tried it. Nice harvest Greg.

[@maritimegardening4887]

Good stuff

[@bobbysmac1009]

I love the norland. Unfortunately, they were not available. I went with chieftain, another red waxy type. Great potatoes. I'm planning on trying both next season as chieftain is about 10 days later variety. This year I just placed the potatoes on the ground surface and covered them with nearly ready compost, sprinkled with blood meal, and mulched heavy with hay. watered twice and left them alone. Great crop this year. Until I watched your videos, I would dig and hill my potatoes. Never again. Next emulation will be an ash digging stick. I really feel now that I can't live without one, or three.

[@maritimegardening4887]

I don't know why I like the digging stick so much = but it just seems to work for me

[@bobbysmac1009]

@@maritimegardening4887 I think a digging stick makes more sense than forking over hard earned cash for an expensive tool. I'm with you, frugality rules.

[@NewYorkJennifer]

I like the idea of that stick, good to know. I have a dibble made from an ash stick around here somewhere, but I think I need a bigger one for potatoes. One question I have on something you've mentioned before, you say you plant them "wrist deep" in the Spring, with my hand that would be 8" deep and you may have a longer hand than me. Are they really planted that deep? I have not started digging mine yet but I did plant them at that depth in May. Just wondering if I'm going to be digging to China when I get started. It's been quite a few years since I planted any amount of potatoes like this year and when I did it was not the Ruth Stout method, just old time dig the trench and treat them like any other row crop. Thanks, good video as always.

[@maritimegardening4887]

Wrist deep is an approximation - it was probably like 4-6" deep at the most

[@NewYorkJennifer]

@@maritimegardening4887 Oh, well, I put them in deep this spring, then. Guess I'll be digging to China after all. :) So you make a fist and go to the wrist, then. OK, I'll remember that next year. Thanks!

[@maritimegardening4887]

@@NewYorkJennifer Yes - that's a better way of putting it - it's wrist deep - when you're holding a potatoe :)

[@franksinatra1070]

Thanks Greg! What do you do with early potatoes that you harvest in the summer when it's still too warm to put in your garage? I grew some Yukon Gold and harvested them in July and August. I put them in large crate with holes in the shed for a while until they dried and then put them in a paper bag and into the refrigerator. The shed was a bit warm but since it's in the shade it doesn't get too hot and they seemed to do ok. Just wondering if leave them in the ground longer until it cools and only use what you need.

[@maritimegardening4887]

I put them in the fridge and I eat them :)

[@DavidMFChapman]

Can you use green potatoes as seed potatoes?

[@maritimegardening4887]

Yes!!! :)

[@bennywalsh2038]

I love tools and in fact only two days ago ordered a Ryobi limb cutter and a weed whacker but couldn't find a Ryobi stick on the HD website. They mustn't make one? I'm wondering where you bought your stick and which brand it is?

[@maritimegardening4887]

Dewalt. 40 volt. $300. I'll mail you one for only $250 because you're my favorite viewer :)

[@bennywalsh2038]

@@maritimegardening4887 Now ya tell me??

[@sassy6292]

Would you be interested in trying and speaking about making charcoal for the garden? This is a thing these days in many parts apparently.

[@maritimegardening4887]

I'll do a video on this topic soon. Short answer - I don't think it's worth your money or time. If someone gives you some, sure, use it, but don't pay for it, and don't make huge fires to make it.

[@canoetipper019]

Thanks for the info. I noticed you didn't wash the potatoes is there a reason for that? So what do you do to get rid of your fire ants...or do you just live with them? Yeah, the smell of rotting potatoes...kind of gross indeed.

[@maritimegardening4887]

I wash them when it's time to eat them. As I said in the video - you want to preserve the integrity of the skin; washing them can compromise the skin. Just focus on drying them off when storage is the goal

[@pseudoscientist4585]

i have never seen someone dig potatoes with a stabbing stick? wtf.... dont you wreck many doing it that way? never mind, your a kid that likes to dig in the dirt! Because id have all the potatoes out of that spot in less then 5 mins and 15-20 forkfulls.... buy a fork.

[@maritimegardening4887]

I have a fork. The stick does a better job. Perhaps you are a pseudo gardener in addition to being a pseudo scientist?

[@pseudoscientist4585]

well i planted 6 row of potatoes 100ft long next to a road. they would be laughing at you if they seen you digging that many potatoes on with a stick... ill need to see the science on your claims?

[@smhollanshead]

@@pseudoscientist4585 I have to agree with Greg on this one. A wooden tool is superior to a metal tool for harvesting potatoes. Try it as an experiment. If you keep an open mind you might be surprised and discover a better way to harvest potatoes.

[@pseudoscientist4585]

@@smhollanshead First i can see it is a waste of time by watching his example! I plant in rows, so know where my potatoes are, and if i miss any no worries. I plant potatoes and carrots in unused areas of my garden to feed biom. and i might hit 1-100 potatoes with a fork.. Maybe you two should try dig 600ft of potatoes with a stick and see if im correct....

[@joanneauburn9047]

Obviously for Greg's space his stick is the best tool for the job. And if your planting multiple rows of course the fork is your perfect tool.

[@hands2hearts-seeds2feedamu83]

I am working on growing my second potato harvest, the first one was planted in March and dug up in July. And the second ppanting was planted in July, they seem to be doing good.

[@terrymacleod6882]

thats amazing. i was still shoveling snow in march.

[@hands2hearts-seeds2feedamu83]

@@terrymacleod6882 we live in Southern Missouri, not usually a hard winter here