One of the goals of the garden is to move toward self-sufficiency. We’ve learned to keep over our garlic and sweet potatoes, and are taking steps toward seed saving. Yet, a significant hurdle has been our standard potatoes. Because we only grow a spring crop and don’t have the luxury of giving them time to fully mature in the soil, keeping our own potatoes over isn’t an option. However, there may be a work around.
We are fortunate to have some great organic farms nearby, LexFarm in Lexington and Hutchins Farm in Concord. Last October, we purchased a 50-pound bag of Peter Wilcox potatoes for $50 from Hutchins to divide amongst the gardeners. As an experiment, we set aside 4 of them in our refrigerator. They started out in simply a brown paper bag, but when they began drying out, we added a plastic bag inside.
When our seed potatoes arrived from our usual Fedco order in mid-April, I was surprised to find that our refrigerated potatoes looked better. And the Fedco potatoes arrived just the day before we needed to plant, giving us no chance to green sprout them beforehand.
We planted the Fedco potatoes in the garden as usual; the Hutchins potatoes went in a Rubbermaid tub beside our driveway. (So not exactly an equal situation.) Nevertheless, the yield ratio (harvested/planted) was a respectable 4.5 for the kept over Peter Wilcox potatoes from Hutchins. The Fedco varieties yielded 6.8 for Adirondack Blue, 3.8 for Yukon Gem, and 3.4 for Purple Viking.
Then there’s the cost comparison. For the 50-pound bag from Hutchins, the cost would have been $2 for the 2lb we need for each variety. (Their farm stand price was $3/lb or $6 for the 2lb needed.) The organic varieties from Fedco were $11.50 plus 1/3 of the $23 shipping charge or $19 for the 2lb needed for each variety.
The only potentially-irreplaceable potato variety we grow is Adirondak Blue. (They’re a real favorite of the group, and highly productive.) If we’re able to source them locally, we should be able to substitute for the other two varieties we grow now. Then we can untether from ordering seed potatoes online.
