Rows of Potatoes
I planted quite a few potatoes this year, and I just couldn’t wait anymore to try them out. I was going to rip one of the plants out of the ground, for investigative porposes, when I heard that you could sneak potatoes off the side of the roots without harming the plant.
Digging Around the Roots
The process is very simple. Start by slowely digging around the roots of the plant. Use care not to damage the roots, as this will slow the plant down in it’s growth process.
Roots and Potatoes
Once you dig back some of the dirt, the potatoes and roots should be showing. Some of the potatoes will be a bright color, and a few will be darker. The darker colored potatoes are the original seed potatoes, and should not be picked. When you’ve chosen which spuds to nab, simply pluck the potatoes from the soil, and gently break any attached roots.
Yukon Gold Potato Close Up
Once you’ve gotten a small heist, cover the roots back over with a loose covering of soil. Do not pack the soil, since this will hinder the plants growth.
You may hesitate for a moment before recovering the spuds, as I did. It’s simply amazing to imagine that a plant can harvest the minerals and moisture in the dirt, and convert all of that with the help of solar radiation into an edible potato. If you simply pause for a moment and look around, this world is pretty amazing.
