"Two Knuckles of a Pinkie"
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
This was the first year we planted potatoes in our garden and last week they started to bloom. I had never seen what a potato flower looks like, so it was interesting to discover. These are blossoms of a fingerling potato.When I saw the flowers, I wondered if it meant the potatoes were ready to pick. Or did it mean we should deadhead the flowers and just let the plants keep growing? In the end, we decided to sacrifice one plant for the purpose of testing.
The exciting news is that we indeed have potatoes growing under there, and they look beautiful. They are, however, still very tiny. The largest one was no longer than "two knuckles of a pinkie" by Michael's calculation, which seemed like an appropriate measurement for a fingerling potato!
They still need more time to grow, but don't they look like they're off to a great start?
6 Comments:
Christa,
That's so cool -- I don't know why it never occurred to me that potatoes would have flowers...of course! Glad you're successfully getting yours grown. I bet they will be delicious!
Genie
The Inadvertent Gardener
Great photo. The potatoes are a lovely shape.
Beautiful picture of the flower. The foliage on your potatoes has to begin to die off before you harvest and for good measure, you should put a little hill of mulch or compost at the base of the plants so any growing potatoes that might break through the soil don't go green and bitter.
Thanks for the tip, Steven. Since potato growing is a new thing for us, I appreciate the advice!
That's no sacrifice, that's an excellent snack. New Potatoes are delicious. Chop up your pinkie knuckles and dice a small onion, then fry them in olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, garlic, dried basil and sage. Mmmmm!
In my garden, none of the potatoes ever make it to full size. My family loves New Potatoes so much that we always dig them up early.
My husband actually ate a few of them raw! He said they were delicious, but for me, no thanks. I'll wait to have mine cooked with garlic and herbs, as you suggest.
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