Spuds

Today was a big afternoon in the garden.  Mrs. Gardener and I did some strategizing, then went out to the garden stores (Donahues, Farmer Seed, and HyVee) to check out what they had. Most of these places are just getting their inventory in place.  Today we bought some seed, seed potatoes, and bedding plants at Farmer Seed.   As you can see from the picture the seed potatoes went in the ground today.  Even though we got 0.3" of rain yesterday, the soil was workable by the late afternoon.  We picked smallish potatoes and planted them whole (instead of cutting in pieces).  Many of the garden books tell you to cut them, dry them, and maybe even treat the exposed surfaces with a chemical.  Last year I cut them and planted them right away with no treatment and all but one grew.  This was even easier.  We selected two varieties this year.  Our favorite, Yukon Gold (foreground) and Kenebec, a traditional baking style potato that is supposed to have good storage qualities.