It’s been a good year for vegetables here so far, despite our current heat wave that is setting records and wilting gardens and gardeners alike. Yesterday thunderstorms started popping up all around us, and I decided to dig the fingerling potatoes before we got a soaking rain and the soil turned to mud.
As it turned out, the thunderstorms bypassed us, but I’m glad I dug the potatoes. I planted one pound of Russian Banana potatoes back in mid-March. Each hill I planted yielded a little over a pound of potatoes, for a grand total of almost 17 pounds of lovely fingerling potatoes. Some of them are going to get roasted tonight for dinner.
bucket of Russian Banana potatoes (click on any image to enlarge)
I had to order these seed potatoes from a catalog, and I almost didn’t do it because they cost $6 a pound, which is a lot more than other seed potatoes cost locally. I’m glad I did though. I believe in this case the harvest was definitely worth the $6 spent!
couple of nice sized fingerling potatoes
Of course, I’m not literally digging the pole beans, but I do appreciate their ease of harvest. When my back is tired from other tasks, harvesting the pole beans from an upright position is sure better than bending over the bush beans! I planted Fortex, Helda, Marvel of Venice and Musica this year. The Fortex beans are just now setting on, while I started getting the others about a week ago. Fortex is sure worth the wait though. It’s tasty and usually very productive for us here. The yardlong beans are just now beginning to bloom and set on too.
variety of pole beans
Two other new items in the harvest basket this week were the Striata d’Italia and Tondo Nizza zucchinis. Striata d’Italia is the striped one in the below photo, while the round one is the Tondo Nizza. I got seed for both from Seeds From Italy.
Striata d'Italia and Tondo Nizza zucchinis
I also pulled up the rest of the Red Tropea onions. I won’t weigh them until they have cured, but I got several pounds of these lovely onions, including ones we’ve already eaten. I also finished digging the last of the garlic crop. I won’t weigh the garlic until it’s cured, either, but it looks like a great year for garlic here.
Red Tropea onions curing
That’s a peek at what’s coming out of the gardens right about now. To see what others are ‘digging’, visit Daphne’s Dandelions, host of Harvest Mondays. Happy Growing to you!
Those potatoes look perfect. I had to buy potatoes for the first time this year last week and it was very upsetting (well I am exagerating but I do prefer home grown). I have lots in the ground though so hopefully I wont have to buy too many more.
Very nice potatoes! I didn’t do fingerlings this year because of the cost, but I regret it because they really are beyond compare when you roast them on a grill with butter. Next year, I guess!
What a wonderful return on those potatoes! Well worth the $6! Your zucchini looks wonderful too…our summer squash are close, but not quite ready yet.
That is a wonderful return on your seed potatoes. Usually I count myself lucky if I get 10x what I planted. At 17x that is fabulous.
I have been intending to add some fingerling potatoes into my usual variety line up, but keep forgetting to order the seed spuds to do that! Your post with those beautiful pics of the grown out spuds is making me seriously regret not getting that done. I so hear you on enjoying the harvesting of pole beans so much more than bush beans. I still grow both because the bush beans produce earlier, but my back definitely appreciates the pole beans more.
I hope my potatoes do well. I also planted something that looks like fingerling, they were given to me, the plants are looking great so I am hoping for good harvest.
That’s quite a lovely bucket of potatoes you harvested.
Ha! I just blogged about how I hate to pick bush beans. I’m with you on the Fortex, my favorite to grow, eat and pick. Lovely harvest, by the way.
Those are huge fingerlings!
Those Tropea onions are gorgeous, and I can imagine how sweet and zippy they are. I’m a pole bean person, too–more for less space and an easier harvest. Beautiful harvest, Dave!
That’s a really good harvest from just one pound of seed. We are usually closer to 8-10 pounds per pound of seed. Our early potatoes are just starting to come on as well and we are sure enjoying them!!
That’s a beautiful bucket of potatoes, well worth the price of the seed. I’m growing Fortex this year as well and hoping for the best. Last year I planted some kind of pole bean in among the cucumber plants so they could share the trellis. That actually worked, but the bean seeds were infected with halo bean blight so I lost the plants and most of the crop. My seed this year is from a vendor that certifies their seed is free of disease.
Nice looking bucket of potaotes; yours have done much better than my earlies, I’m still waiting on my blues and yellows to be ready to dig.
Fantastic potato yield, definitely $6 well spent. The rest of the harvest is very impressive. It sound like you’ve had a wonderful season.
Beautiful potatoes, they definitely look to be worth the investment. And a lovely bunch of beans too. I do love the Musica beans, they stay tender and flavorful even when they get large and they are great on the BBQ.
Those potatoes look wonderful!