50# each of red Pontiac & all blue ...
Hubby dug them up today.
They (cause I'm ill this week, flu like symptoms) gathered them up.
We got about 50# total back ...
WHAT?!?!?!?!
Well a couple of possibilities ...
Weeds: we had quite a few weeds pop up when the rains began, since the in-laws had to borrow the small tractor this summer we didn't have a good way to keep it under control. I'm sorry, I'm still too much of a city girl to go out and weed on my hands and knees .... Plus, it was a really crappy year.
Weather: it was actually a pretty cold summer! Global warming my butt! The soil never really warmed up the way it was supposed to - even the tomatoes didn't ripen until late August/early September .... Then there was the rain. It just could not make up its mind - too dry in the beginning, too cold, then downpours of 4inches or so at a time for a week then nothing again for several weeks. It! This is the first summer I can remember where we NEVER hit 100°F!!!!! Normally we get 3-5 in July.
Equipment troubles: First we did not have our little tractor, the Allis-Chambers, which pulls the weeded behind it, so when the rains came the weeds took root and grew along with the 'tators ... Then hubby said the potato digger attachment he got for the big tractor (the Ford) wouldn't dig into the ground - he wanted it to go in deeper, at least 1 foot, but it only went down about 4inchrs.
Critters: yup I'm blaming the fauna ... We lost soooooooo many tomato plants this summer because the DEER (aka venison) ate every tomato plant that did not have cages around them. I had purchased about a dozen cages at Menards a few years back but we had so many more plants than that this year. At least, BEFORE the deer came. I'm pretty sure they got into my potato plants as well.
The deer are not the only critters we have either ... We also have rabbits, chipmunks, and squirrels. All these critters will eat the food in the field. Oh, and RACOONS. ... We have an exploding population in Minnesota of 'Coons -- they sure do earn their bandits mask! We have not seen them up near the house, but when we have sweet corn they leave the evidence of their picnics all over the side of our hill :-(. We did not have a corn crop this year (remember it sprouted at about 3ft tall) so they would have had to find something else to munch on ... I'm betting, my potatoes!
The Human Eliment: we have found we have poachers ... I've always wondered if we had people taking the corn at night - actually no biggie as long as they don't clear us out - but I'm beginning to think they take other produce out there as well. They may have, though not likely, taken some of those potatoes too. Even if they did, I can't see it being 50# worth (even though I do know a couple of folk who might actually be able to take that much).
Actually I think the issue was PLANTING TOO CLOSE together. Hunky decided to plant them while I wasn't available and he put them 4-6inches apart. I had told him a FOOT apart .... twice the distance h,e did .... But once they were in it was too late.
