Last year I had a strange thing happen, I believe, by being too impatient to get the potatoes in the ground. I pre-spouted mine in late Feb, and had them in the ground by the 1st week of April. I mulched the bed with straw. They popped up, I hilled and mulched with more straw to protected their tender little green shoots. When a frost danger was issued, I ran out and covered the bed with a blanket. I watered, I hand picked bugs, I hilled, I admired. Oh they were so lush and pretty and healthy...but guess what it got me? Oh, I had tons of potatoes under there, but I wasn't able to eat them, because I had started so early, that the new potatoes I had just grown, also began to grow, so by September I had a whole new batch of potatoes growing like mad....and no tubers to dig and store. The point of my story is, I think what happened, is I started too early and moddle coddled a very care-free plant too much. Now I know that I have to wait until mid-april. Cut the spud, toss it in the ground and let it do it's thing until fall. So, mine have been in the ground for two weeks, and I don't have any shoots showing yet. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, I will start to see the shoots, and it will be right on schedule to avoid any hard freezes and yet they will be off to a good 'late' start. So I say, better get them in the ground now.

We raised potatoes for years. Here is a little I know about seed potatoes. Potatoes (tubors) are "clones" unless you use TPS (true potato seed). (very small seeds produced on the top of the plant in small pods) TPS can produce off spring that are different from the parent. There are a couple of ways of propagating new seed potatoes. Tissue culture is one, and there is a newer one that uses hydroponics. There is pre nuclear, nuclear, G1-G6 (generation) As each year goes by for producing seed stock the offspring have a higher probability for getting disease. Also the yield can start to taper off for each successive generation. After G6 we say the seed is "run out" They use stringent testing to check for disease. Good quality eating potatoes can be as good as seed potatoes but are not tested for certification. For example G3 seed grown for table stock might be as good as G3 grown for seed. However table stock is not tested for disease. G3 grown for seed becomes G4 for the following year. If you cut the seed, make sure the cut side "heals" for several hours to a few days (depending on humidity and temp). Tops mancozeb is a common seed treatment used to prevent disease in cut pieces. Also, eating potatoes can be treated to prevent sprouting so they may not work for seed. One disease that is particularly bad for potatoes is late bight. The newer A2 mating is very aggressive. Humidity plays a big part in this disease. Monitoring stations keep track of humidity and after adding numbers up in a special formula spraying notices are sent out to growers. After you start spraying you have to continue through the season to keep it from getting a toe hold in your field. This winter I took some sprout tips and grew some potatoes in small pots. I am going to try to try them this spring for seed. They look disease free and I am curious how well they might produce. Here is a link for some info on potato growing. http://www.panhandle.unl.edu/peyes.htm Alex Pavlista is well known in potato circles.

edweather: I'm with you on the Russets. All the potato dishes I love are far better with them: baked, mashed, French fried, scalloped. The only thing I prefer waxy potatoes for is potato salad. My family loves Russets so much that I used to take them on the plane with me when we vacationed in a cottage on the Florida panhandle. We could never find a decent potato in the little stores down there. (The beef was awful too! We're hopelessly Midwestern.) Of course, Homeland Security put an end to potatoes on the plane. terrybull: According to the sources I've seen (Washington State University, Maine Potato Lady) Nicola is a mid-season variety. Seed Savers Exchange says it is a late season that matures in 90-110 days. I thought late season varieties typically took more than 130 days to mature. Please report back to let us know how yours turn out. I have read that only a few late season varieties will grow stolons with tubers all along the buried stem, which is what you want in a potato tower. Potatoes are like tomatoes in that some are indeterminate and some are determinate. Determinate potatoes flower once and produce one layer of potatoes and die, so they are not suitable for a tower. Indeterminate potato varieties apparently flower continuously throughout the growing season (like yours, edweather?). Most potatoes are determinate. Some potatoes don't actualy bulk up until the weather turns cold. Russet Burbank is a classic indeterminate potato that takes 140-150 days to mature. If I ever do anything like this again, I'm going to look for a potato that takes at least 135 days to harvest. And I think I'll leave it in the ground as long as possible. Whoops. Looks like I'm dreaming again.

It is best to use waxy, or new potatoes. Fingerlings are ideal, but I can never find them in my grocery store, so next choice is Yukon Gold....or Red Bliss. I steam the potatoes (>just tendervalue and potato flavor). Peel as soon as cool enough to handle (I use a glove on one hand to keep from being burned). Sprinkle potato slices with French dressing while still quite warm. I don't think I make the potato salad the same twice....each time it is a bit different because I don't follow any specific measrements. Just add and taste as you go along. I use mayo (sometimes homemade, and sometimes Hellman's Real Mayo., sour cream, your choice of vinegar (wine, cider or white). Cut up olives, chopped parsley, strips of pimento, chopped celery, celery seed, chopped sweet onion. Don't forget to season with S&P. The salad can be customized to your, and your family's, likes and dislikes. Garnish with sliced boiled eggs, sliced olives, sprinkling of parsley and ground paprika. Most anything goes that appeals to the taste buds