Filed under: Gardening, Pacific Northwest Gardening, Planting Potatoes, Potatoes | Tags: pacific northwest gardening
I went out to dinner last night with a friend who is starting a home garden. She told me, much to my horror, that she had just thrown away some potatoes that had sprouted. “Why didn’t you just plant them in your garden?” She didn’t know she could. I realized it was time to start blogging again.
Many home gardeners don’t grow potatoes. As far as I can tell this is because they don’t know how. There really isn’t much to growing potatoes. Essentially, you dig an 8″ inch hole somewhere in your garden, put in a potato (preferably sprouted), cover it up with soil. Approximately 3 months later, you pull fresh potatoes from the ground. Now this is the abbreviated version of how to plant potatoes. For a description of the whole process, just read my post on Planting Potatoes.
This time of year, early spring, is a good time to get potatoes in the ground. Potatoes aren’t impacted by frost when they are warm and snug 8″ inches under. Also, if the potatoes do come up before the expected last frost date, they can take some frost. I started planting my personal potato crop last weekend, a good three to six weeks before the expected last frost. I’m hoping I will finish planting this weekend. That will give me a good shot at having potatoes to put on the grill by the Fourth of July. Fresh potatoes on the barbecue grill are a summer favorite in my household. The recipe is fairly easy.
TOMATO MAN’S GRILLED POTATOES
- Harvest and clean potatoes.
- Microwave potatoes according to size. Large potatoes should be microwaved for 5-6 minutes on both sides; smaller potatoes, 2-3 minutes.
- Baste potatoes with olive oil and garlic salt.
- Cook with indirect heat on the barbecue grill. Large potatoes will need 15-20 minutes; smaller potatoes 10-15 minutes.
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