Grow Your Own French Fries

Have you ever eaten a fresh, home-grown potato? If so, you know there is absolutely no comparison to potatoes from the supermarket.

How's this for yummy: baked potatoes with gooey cheddar cheese and fresh steamed broccoli; "new" potatoes sauteed with leeks and butter; maybe grilled fingerling potato salad with lobster and watercress; garlic-Parmesan mashed potatoes; homemade potato chips; and of course, everybody's favorite--french fries! The list of fabulous potato concoctions goes on and on. So imagine being able to walk outside and dig up a coupla spuds of your own-- as many as you need to whip up a delicious feast (of homemade potato chips) when the craving hits you.


Now that you are hungry for potatoes, why not consider growing the humble spud this year? Potatoes truly are one of the most popular vegetables in the home garden. And they are super easy to grow, storing well for months, and, like we said, they taste much, much better.

Valley View sells certified seed potatoes--Kennebec, Red Norland, Yukon Gold, Superior, Cobbler and Pontiac Red.

"What exactly is a 'seed' potato?" you might ask. It's not actually a seed, but was grown from one. Always buy certified disease-free seed potatoes. Planting potatoes from the grocery store is risky; not only may they harbor diseases, potatoes, like many grocery store vegetables, are often treated with a growth inhibitor to keep them from sprouting.

Growing potatoes is easy, as long as you start off with the proper potato-lovin' soil. Potatoes are aggressively rooting plants, and produce an abundant crop when planted in a light, loose, well-drained soil with a pH between 5.0 and 6.0. (Bring in a soil sample, and we will test your pH for free!)

Here's a great guide to planting potatoes:
http://www.eartheasy.com/blog/2009/04/growing-potatoes-is-easy-and-so-rewarding/


To complement your potatoes, we also carry onion sets, shallots, and "cole crops" are here, too: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage (Savoy, Flat Dutch, Golden Acre, Red Acre), cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi and Swiss chard. We have rhubarb, asparagus and horseradish. Next week look for 6 varieties of lettuce, peas and bok choy.

And for dessert: 4 varieties of strawberries!