Does anyone else like blue potatoes?

[HopeHoops]

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Sure! And red and yellow fleshed....

Though the great diversity in potatoes doesn't relate nearly as much to flavor differences as in tomatoes, they sure are attractive and allow some real creativity in colors of dishes!

Our daughters got a kick out of the lavender mashed potatoes we often whip up!

but to us, nothing beats the superior flavor of Yukon Golds (of those that are easy to find)

[HopeHoops]

2. The blue make the prettiest mashed potatoes. They change color as they cool.

Lavender is a good description for when they're cooling, but they get a deep blue/purple when they're hot. And they have such a wonderful flavor and keep well! We've been growing them for 20 years. The blue only get about 1/4 as big as the Yukon Golds, but I dense-plant and always get a huge harvest. We just dug them a couple of weeks ago - IN PA!!!

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. I had my best gardens in PA (we lived in West Chester)....

we thought moving to Raleigh we would have it made - nice long growing season - and

every critter and disease and weather disaster known to humans!

I tried potatoes a few years ago - just not enough sun, not quite the right soil. I actually plant all of my tomatoes, peppers and eggplant in pots - 400 of them last year!

[HopeHoops]

5. We put hot peppers in pots to keep them away from the sweet peppers.

Cross pollination is a problem there. I worked the hell out of the soil and turned a solid block of shale into a rich organic garden in three years of growing. Radishes are great for that because they sent out a shitload of fibrous roots. They really break up clay and shale. In NH I had to deal with packed rock and stone. I still got a killer garden out of that, but it took a few years.

Hot sauce (cheap stuff) will keep most of the critters away, but just use it on the perimeter, not on the plants. I make a powder mix of red pepper, garlic, onion, and black pepper and put it in a sugar shaker (from the Dollar Tree - the kind old restaurants used to have) and sprinkle it around the area. It helps, but they still jump over the nasty shit to get to the veggies.

The dogs are great at chasing them off, but they get a little confused since we have a rabbit in the house that they are friends with. The sheltie can easily catch the rabbits but she stops and waits for them to play. It's a good deterrent, but the poor dog doesn't understand why they don't turn around and have fun with her.

[Denninmi]

11. Good Lord, that is a lot of watering.

Do you use drip irrigation, or just spend hours every day hose in hand?

[yellerpup]

4. I do! I do!

They usually come to our Farmer's Market toward the end of the season, and just in time to make a fabulous looking and tasting potato salad (mixing blues and sweet potatoes) for Halloween.

The last time I mashed them (a few weeks ago) they maintained their deep purple color even while hot. I don't know if it was a different breed or what, but it was a nice surprise.

[HopeHoops]

6. I couldn't find fresh seed potatoes this season so we just used what was left over (the small ones).

We still got a damn good crop.

I plant in early May (too early by conventional wisdom), but that's when the volunteers start showing up so I figure mine will do just as well. The main advantage is beating the potato beetles. They don't come out until after the pollination period so it doesn't matter if they mutilate the foliage. Same with squash bugs. I plant early and beat them to their goal. Weather is a bigger problem. We had a really wet spring and I told my wife - no heirloom tomatoes. I was right. They can't take wet feet and die off. The common varieties (sweet 100, sugary, Big Boy, Celebrity, etc.) did just fine. I'm hoping for a dry spring next season so I can get back to the heirlooms.

Oddly, all of the peppers did well - like WAY better than usual. Go figure.

[yellerpup]

9. No garden for me.

I live in an apartment. I used to help my grandpa plant seed potatoes, though. Seems to me that I recall he would put them in the ground during moon-dark in February (Oklahoma). Wishing you the best with all your plants. I do miss growing veggies.

[Liberal Veteran]

7. No, they don't. That's why the the potatoes are blue.

[beac]

8. Love 'em.

Our local grocery sells the fingerling size in a mixed bag w/red and gold. In the summer, I chop them into bite sizes, boil them, add a tiny bit of butter and lots of chopped parsley, cool them and add them to the entree salads that are a staple around here during the stifling hot days.

The blue looks especially pretty nestled in the leafy greens.

[Kablooie]

10. Alfred Hitchcock did.

He once invited a bunch of friends over for dinner and served a totally blue meal. Everything, potatoes, meat, drinks, everything was blue. It was a joke and I heard it was very hard to eat.