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Several years ago I was asked to speak on potatoes as Center City was preparing to replace the old potato starch factory with a new senior housing development. Sue Leaf also spoke at the same event as Sue has done research on raising potatoes in Chisago County.

At that time raising home garden potatoes was on the decline but has made a revival since. I think the reason for this renewed interest is due to the economy and to be able to control any chemicals on fruits and vegetables.

As popular as the potato is, it's hard to believe that it got off to such a rough start. In the 16th century it was banned in parts of France because it was thought to cause leprosy. Clergy in Europe spread rumors that the potato was the forbidden fruit that grew in the Garden of Eden.

Two hundred years later peasants from Ireland to Siberia adopted it as part of their basic diet, making it the first crop of the world to become a food staple outside its native region. One of the problems in Ireland was they only had one variety of potato. When the potato blight invaded the crop, it was the main reason for the famine in Ireland.

There are numerous stories of how the potato came to this country, but by the middle of the 19th century, American gardeners had more than 70 different varieties of potatoes, and now there are several hundred varieties across the United States.

When I did some research on potatoes I counted 34 recommended varieties for our area. The University of Minnesota has developed 17 varieties for our area but the only potato I recognized was the Anoka variety. This is unusual because as in apples, most recommended varieties for this area were developed by the U of M.

Years ago farmers wanted to plant some early potatoes on Good Friday. This depended on if Easter was early or late and the condition of the soil. This year Good Friday is April 10, which is a late Easter. However, the weather must warm up fast in order for planting potatoes.

Early potatoes and new potatoes are the same thing. These varieties include Anoka, Dark Red Norland, Norland, Red Norland, and Pontiac. There may be more varieties that I am not familiar with. Early potatoes are boiled and can be eaten with the skin on as they are not used for baking. They are usually harvested before they get too large and don't store as well as later varieties because of their thin skin.

I always plant Norland Red as my early potato, but must confess that I haven't tried most of the others. Most garden centers have a variety of potatoes. I cut them into three to four pieces depending on the eyes available. The eyes are sprouts that will form a stem. Each piece should have two to three good eyes and I cut them three to four days before planting so some of the starch will dry out.

I plant them three to four inches deep and about two feet apart. As they grow I like to hill dirt around the stems to keep the potatoes shaded from the sun.

The main disease for potatoes is blight as it was in the potato famine in Ireland. Since they are in the same family as the tomato, they carry the same blight. The best way to control this disease is by keeping them far away from tomatoes, plant in a sunny well drained area, with good air circulation, good crop rotation, and no overhead watering. I don't fertilize because the energy goes into plant rather than the potato and it tends to produce scabs on the skins.

The main insect is the Colorado potato beetle. One never can completely eliminate them but using the same good practices as with the blight, they may be controlled. If you are into pesticides there are some chemicals that can help, even though I haven't had much luck with early potatoes. I like to get my potatoes planted early so they are ready around the 4th of July. By digging them early I avoid most of the potato bug damage.

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