The Potato Eaters... or not

No doubt you’ve all been waiting for the sequel to my spring blog about our virgin effort to grow potatoes vertically.

     Instead of digging trenches, putting in seed potatoes and mounding them as the plants grew – the traditional method – we decided to build a large crate-like structure in the middle of the vegetable garden with the seed potatoes buried inside, then add dirt as the plants grew.

     We (mostly Rick, really) have tended the structure (we call it our redneck hot tub) for all these months, gradually adding soil as the potato plants grew taller.

     Today, I decided it was time to see if our experiment had worked.

     I got out a potato fork and started digging through the dirt. I got through about half of it then quit in discouragement because…

     THERE WASN’T ONE SINGLE POTATO!

     So, there you have it. A little time in the sun and a little aerobic activity were all we got for our efforts.

     But you know, one of Van Gogh’s first great paintings, The Potato Eaters, is considered one of his most intriguing because he had not yet mastered the techniques that would later make him famous. The painting is considered imperfect. But it helped in the development of those techniques that would one day make him a master.

     Maybe next year we can say the same about our potato-growing efforts.

     In the meantime, there’s always the farmers market.