I planted 4 rows of pots: 2 German Butterball and 1 row of Riley’s Reds (I named these~ unofficially~ after the wonderful older gentleman gardener I received the first seed pots from. He had been planting the same variety for so long, he couldn’t remember the name. I just named them after him) and a row for the new kid on the block (at least, new for me): Purple Viking.

The garden rows are 30 feet long. So that’s 120 feet of pure potato goodness! Or so I thought.

The Butterballs were small and have been trending down in size over the last couple of years. I’m not sure why. Fungus in storage? Maybe. I have to do some research. This one I’m holding is the largest in the whole row! These pots are a late season pot so maybe they just don’t have enough time in our 90 day summer to completely bulk up before the vines freeze out? Not sure. But I’m going to look into some shorter season potato for next year. The GB only grew out to 50 pounds for two 30 foot rows. This is a crop failure for us and we can’t afford another year of poor potato production. Potatoes are my life!

The reds are a pretty good. At least their size makes up for numbers. This pot had been trending down in size and numbers until this season. This summer was a make or break time for this old favorite. If it didn’t make quota then I was going to look for another short season red. But it made! This one I’m holding is the smallest of all the hills. 62 pounds for a 30 foot row! I’ll plant more rows of this guy next year.

But the Purple Viking completely out performed the others.

88 pounds in one 30 foot row! That is amazing! And they taste good too!!! These guys are supposed to be excellent keepers. I can’t wait to see how they perform in our less-than-perfect-but-wonderful-just-the-same garage storage bin. These are a definite score!

 

 

Today’s Count: 33 eggs.

What’s for supper: Homemade Pepperoni pizza

Weather: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 62. Southwest wind 8 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Tonight patchy fog after 3am. Otherwise, partly cloudy, with a low around 27. South southwest wind 6 to 11 mph.