Had one last container of potatoes that I harvested today. These are Pontiac Reds. All the white potatoes have already been harvested.
First removed the 4+ inches of cypress mulch on top.
One of the great things about potatoes in a relatively small container is that you can just dump them out. No real digging required.
Two seasons in the sun had made the plastic bucket a little brittle. Part of the rim broke when I dumped it over. Not a big problem though. It should still work again next year.
The soil was much wetter than I expected, but I can already see that we'll have at least a few potatoes. We've had some rain the last couple of days, but I would have expected that soil to drain faster.
A small but usable crop of Pontiac Red potatoes with a few decent-sized potatoes and several small ones too. Not sure what contributes to the inconsistent size. I'll have to look into that.
Gave them an initial wash right over a garden bed. I want the soil and the water to go right back into the garden. There is no point in washing them in a sink and putting soil and extra water into my septic system.
Took them inside to weigh. Only 2-pounds 1-ounce total.
I was hoping to get at least 10 pounds out of that size container, so 2 pounds was a disappointment, but 2 pounds is better than zero pounds I suppose.
I think the heat was just too much for them. All of my various potato plots yielded less than I expected. I will say though that the Kennebec potatoes produced a little better than the Pontiac Red potatoes.
I think next year I need to get them started about a month earlier (although I'll probably have to use a black ground cloth or something to try and raise the ground temperature up a little for the first few weeks).
