potatoes for dinner, but not for storage (yet)

IFELT LIKE BAKED POTATOES TO GO WITH the green beans I was steaming up for dinner the other night, and at first lamented I’d forgotten to buy any, and then…aha! Out I went to the potato row, where the foliage is about half-withered, and stuck a hand down into the hilled-up soil to find my prey. Perfect for eating, but not ready yet for storage, it seems, so I’m leaving the rest, minus the occasional supper requirements, right where they are awhile longer. Here’s why, and what I’ll do at harvest time:

My hero James Crockett of the original vintage 1970s “Victory Garden” PBS fame said he just left the carefully dug tubers out on top of the former row for a few hours to dry a bit, then put them in burlap or mesh bags in a cool, dark place at once. Even with a few days of light exposure, the potatoes would turn green and inedible.

He didn’t bother with curing the crop, exactly, which is the more conventional advice today:

Dig when the soil is dry, not wet, after the foliage has died down. I normally leave them right in the ground until I am ready for them in late fall, long after the plants have faded, to reduce indoor storage time, hoping for a dry spell later in the year.

First, to gauge readiness, carefully dig a hill or two of potatoes, starting about a foot outside the hill itself and working inward, since potatoes can sprout on long roots nearly a foot to either side of where you started. (The “seed potato” from a hill I uprooted earlier, above, is the one at the end of the stem, sending off satellite roots to form more tubers.) They don’t really go deeper than planted, but go a bit sideways and even closer to the surface than the seed potato was placed. Exploring with your hands will guarantee no pierced or otherwise Read more on awaytogarden.com