March 17th is the universal potato planting date, having something to do, perhaps, with the Irish connotation of potatoes. I planted about a third of my La Ratte fingerlings 10 days ago (the sprouts are already poking through the soil), and another third today. I'd have gotten them all in, but the 17 month old woke up early from his nap so Mommy had to stop and get into the house before he destroyed something. I planted the last row in my 4x8 potato bed, planted 5 20 gallon containers with seed potatoes, and used the soil I removed from the potato bed to topdress the garlic beds and the potato onions.


I also got a lot of weeding done, and
tomorrow I'll prepare the planting strip in the side yard for planting after I finish up with the potatoes. Last year I used it as a basil bed, but this year I want to fill it with high value crops like tomatoes and bush beans. This is what it looked like last summer..

Tomorrow I'll clean and prep it and put up some before and after pics. I love those, they're like magic.

Sprouted seed potatoes..

They're no thing of beauty right now, but wait till the lush foliage comes popping through the soil with all the promise of rich, buttery new fingerling potatoes. Mmmmmmm...