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When planting vegetable garden, don't settle for plain old potatoes
Missouri
St. Patrick's Day, the traditional planting date for potatoes, is fast approaching. This season, instead of--or in addition to--growing the conventional white potatoes, gardeners might want to raise specialty potatoes, a University of Missouri horticulturist said.
Different potato varieties have diverse shapes, and their skin and flesh come in a wide variety of colors, said Lewis Jett, MU Extension horticulturist. More important, "they have unique flavors that make them ideal for many dishes. Restaurants and farmers markets are excellent market outlets for these potatoes."
"Fingerling type" potatoes, as their name implies, are small, round tubers that Jett called "superb for roasting and boiling." Varieties include Kipfel, La Ratte, French fingerling, Austrian Crescent, Rose Finn Apples, Purple Peruvian and Blossom.
Jett mentions other potato varieties such as Red Gold, "a mid-season, round potato with lightly netted red skin and yellow flesh," and Carola, a late-season round variety with yellow skin and flesh "that has been a high-yielding specialty potato in the central Midwest."
He called Desiree "an excellent red-skinned variety," and "Purple Viking, with its purple skin and red stripes, is an attractive potato at farmers markets." A variety called All Blue is popular not only for its taste but because "it keeps its color after being cooked--which purple asparagus doesn't do," he said.
Specialty potatoes can be a pleasant surprise for those who are used to--or tired of--conventional white varieties.
"I grew up eating potatoes nearly every day," Jett said. "I thought I knew what they tasted like, and then I ate some grilled fingerling potatoes. I never had a better tasting potato. It was like I discovered potatoes all over again."
The ideal planting date in most of Missouri is late March to early April, Jett said. The soil has to be at least 45 degrees Fahrenheit and preferably loose and friable. "Mulch your potatoes fairly heavily with straw or hay to keep the soil temperatures cooler," he said. "They can take a light frost, but not a hard freeze." Some growers plant their potatoes under clear plastic, which they remove as soon as the plants sprout.
Because specialty potatoes are not widely grown, "local seed stock is unlikely to be available in Missouri," Jett said. Although many reputable dealers exist nationwide, he said, Missouri growers recognized several sellers as reliable sources of high-quality, reasonably priced seed stock.
Milk Ranch Specialty Potatoes in Powderhorn, Colo., can be reached at 970-641-5643 or at www.milkranch.com. Johnny's Selected Seeds in Albion, Maine, can be reached at 207-437-4395 or at www.johnnyseeds.com/welcome.html. Ronnigers Potato Farm in Moyie Springs, Idaho, can be reached at 208-267-7938 or at www.ronnigers.com.
About 20 pounds of potatoes can be grown from a two-pound sack of seeds, Jett said. "They usually start shipping seed stock about March 1."
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SPECIALTY SPUDS--Specialty potatoes like these fingerling and Red Gold varieties make an attractive display at farmers markets and offer delightful color and taste alternatives to "the same old round, white types of potatoes," a University of Missouri horticulturist says. (Photo by Lewis Jett.)
Date: 3/9/04
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