Heirloom Varieties of Potatoes

Imagine running out to the garden and digging up some Rose Fin Apple potatoes or German Butterballs or some Purple Vikings with their deep purple skin and their creamy white insides. Or think about your picnic potato salad on the 4th of July with red, white and blue potatoes. Come on, even a Canadian would be envious of your patriotic culinary and gardening expertise!

Did you know that years ago housewives planted certain potatoes for different uses? Some are best for storage, some for baking and mashing. Some give up the ghost (and the starch) if you try to bake them like an Idaho-style while others lend their hearty flavor to stews and hold their shape all the way to the bowl. This is the kind of information that we are missing today and deep down, we know it and it worries us. Now is the time to change that. Start planning now for an exciting potato harvest in 2010! This week we will show you how to plant potatoes (it's much easier than you thing) and talk about where to get potatoes for seed.

Have you planted potatoes before? What did you think of the experience?

Photo courtesy of www.SeedSavers.com