Red Potato Harvest

Last February some small red potatoes sprouted before we could eat them. I decided to cut them into pieces and root them in a shallow tray in front of a kitchen window along with the stubs of celery stalks. In February - any green plants were welcome relief from the white snow on the ground outside the window!

The potatoes did very well; their roots formed a dense mat in the tray and I planted them in some pots on our deck in late April. The plants grew rapidly - making large leaves and stems. Last week when I was watering all the pots (before the rains came), I noticed that one of the pots had what looked like a good sized potato peeking through the soil. Yesterday I ‘harvested’ the potatoes from the pot. There were 4 of them - a small serving. That's a pretty good crop considering they have only been in the dirt for about 6 weeks. The potatoes were all very close to the surface. None of the other plants have visible potatoes yet so I will let them continue growing…and next time I’ll plant the potatoes in bigger pots!