The Noble Potato’s History

You say potato, I say potahto... Or taters, or praties, or earth apples, pommes de terre, aardappel... by any name the noble spud is easy to grow here on the East Coast.

Pity the humble potato. A lot of the time it doesn’t get much respect. Think “couch potatoes,” that not-so-affectionate term for people who spend too much time watching TV. And never mind the diet-crazed crowd, trying to make the noble spud into a naughty carbohydrate culprit of all things weighty. (Haven’t they heard of moderation?)

Although the potato—still—makes regular appearances on many European and North American dinner tables, it has been a staple outside its homeland, the Andean Altiplano in Peru, only for the past few hundred years. The Incas were imaginative farmers who created potatoes in all shapes, sizes and colours—reds, pinks, blues, yellows, tans and oranges.

The Spanish conquistadors that ravaged the Incas’ empire were probably the same seafaring brigands who brought potatoes to Europe at the end of the 16th century. When the potato was first introduced to European gardeners, many feared it in much the same way they feared tomatoes, which were thought to bring on gas, leprosy and disease. At the same time, others believed it could cure diarrhea, tuberculosis, male impotence and female infertility. The Irish, in particular, pounced on the potato—as a perfect crop for the infertile lands they had to work with—and the vegetable became vital for feeding families and livestock. The horrific famine that began in 1845 with the arrival of potato blight on Irish shores was perhaps the first warning that the reliance on one crop, or mono cropping, could lead to serious problems.

A Tasty Garden Staple

Botanically speaking, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are all members of the Solanaceae, or nightshade family, which includes among its members the highly poisonous deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), as well as the flowering garden plants nicotiana, nolana, petunia and datura, the latter of which is also toxic.

Many people consider potatoes to be two separate vegetables. We all seem to go a little crazy when we see “new potatoes” for sale, and those small, delectable orbs are especially remarkable when married with new peas, beans and carrots in the regional delicacy of hodgepodge. Then there are the later, larger spuds we dig up in late summer or early fall, storing some for the winter. They’re just as good, but in a different way from those mouthwatering first nuggets.

Like apples, potatoes have hundreds of varieties. The most common are the red- and blue-skinned types, the dainty fingerlings often sold at farm markets—and of course the Yukon Golds and Russets.

Heritage or Hybrid

Fred Duplessis has been growing and selling certified seed potatoes for more than 50 years. He lives at 4 Potato Lane in Keswick, NB, and has a Labrador retriever named Mr. Spud. Fred’s seed potatoes—which are marketed under the brand name Mr. Spud—are popular with growers across Atlantic Canada, Quebec and Ontario.

“Our biggest market is home gardeners who want something a little different, maybe potatoes like their grandparents used to have,” he says. “A lot of these new varieties that commercial growers have are meant only for chips or french fries—they don’t boil well.” He also says some of the new varieties take too long to mature. “They’re not good to grow in home gardens because they’re long season.”

Along with several popular varieties, such as Kennebecs, Norlands, Russet Burbanks and Green Mountain, Fred grows All Blue, Blue Pride, Purple Chief, Sunbury (a red-skinned variety with yellow flesh) and Banana, which actually looks like a yellow-skinned banana. Some of his varieties aren’t big sellers, but he keeps producing them “just to keep up the seed bank,” he says.

A True Potato Fan

Bill Higgins also grows a great spud, or, more accurately, thousands of them. The Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries officer from Christmas Island, in Cape Breton, produces 30 types of potatoes each year and stores about 1,000 pounds of them in his root cellar over winter. He grows potatoes for his family’s use, as well as to share with friends and other relatives.

Bill got interested in potatoes about 20 years ago. “Christmas Island is an old farming community... I was given some older varieties of potatoes by some people who had been growing them for years,” he says. “At one point, I had upwards of 40 varieties, and I even developed my own variety, O’Higgins Blue, which has purple skin, a little layer of white flesh and blue flesh in the centre.”

He has tried varieties from Chile (“which didn’t do well in Cape Breton”), an excellent Dutch type called Bintje that’s an all-around great potato for all types of cooking, but Bill’s favourite varieties for growing in large quantities to eat are Green Mountain, Netted Gem and Yukon Gold. A couple of years ago, he discovered a Green Mountain potato that was “a big brute,” he says, weighing in at more than three pounds, which got him interviewed on CBC Radio’s As It Happens.

Bill is frequently called upon to give advice on growing great potatoes. He suggests to plow up a patch of ground with a tractor or Rototiller preferably the fall of the year before you intend to plant, which gives you a headstart on spring. As with most vegetable crops, select a site that gets full sun, in well-draining and rich loam. Other site considerations: Avoid putting potatoes next to cucumbers or other members of the squash family, and don’t plant nightshade cousins (peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, tomatillos) in the same spot for at least two years after you harvest your potato crop. Scab, blight or the Colorado potato beetle can transfer from one preferred host to another, or overwinter in the soil and more easily get a leg up on young growth.

In spring, Bill works the soil down six to eight inches with the tiller, then uses a piece of rope to make a straight line in the bed, where he digs a trench about four inches deep. He usually puts his spuds in on the long weekend in May. “You’re not doing yourself any favours by trying to get them in too early,” he says.

The Science of Growing Potatoes

Of course, planting potatoes takes more work than just buying a little packet of seeds and sprinkling them in soil. You need seed potatoes, which can be whole, small potatoes or cut sections of large potatoes. Most gardeners and seed-potato breeders recommend buying certified seed potatoes, which have been specially grown for planting and are guaranteed to be free of viruses and diseases such as early blight or scab.

You can always save your own seed—save your best potatoes from your healthiest plants to be next year’s crop. Bill cuts his seed pieces several days before he plans to plant. Each piece for planting should contain two eyes that are just beginning to sprout.

“I’ll do one variety up, then disinfect the knife with bleach in case there’s a virus on one that I don’t want to spread to another,” he says. He leaves the seed chunks lying on newspapers on the cold room floor to dry out a bit, which increases germination.

Bill spaces his seeds about 12 to 15 inches apart, covers them with an inch or two of soil, and starts hilling the plants—gathering the soil up around stems as they grow to bury the lower parts—when the new growth is about six inches high. Hilling creates more space for the developing potato tubers to grow and also helps prevent them from becoming “sunburned.” Potatoes are sensitive to light and will turn green and develop a bitter, mildly toxic taste when left exposed either when growing or while being stored.

Planting and Harvesting Your Taties

A soil pH of 6 to 7 provides the optimal acidity level for most potatoes, although a lower pH can help reduce problems with scab. Bill uses 10-10-10 fertilizer at planting and several more times throughout the season, but you can also use well-rotted manure, compost or seaweed. Don’t use fresh manure—it can encourage the development of scab.

One of the best ways to feed your soil is to grow a “green crop” in alternate years: for example, grow a legume such as clover that you plow back in before planting potatoes in the same spot again. Bill plants buckwheat in the spring on his fallow site, then plows that down in midsummer and seeds with clover, which he leaves until he plants potatoes there again in two years’ time.

Growing your potatoes using certified seed will go a long way to preventing problems with disease, but there’s also the dreaded Colorado potato beetle to consider. Handpicking the adults, eggs and larvae is about the best way to control populations of this notorious bug, although some gardeners swear by interplanting garlic and marigolds to help repel it.

Once plants are hilled and fertilized, Bill lets nature water them and waits patiently until his plant tops are dead before he digs more than a few new potatoes. “If the tops are still a bit green, pull out a handful of potatoes and give them the thumb test,” he says. “When you pick a potato and give it a rub and nothing comes off, they’re ready for the root cellar.”

Bill stores his potatoes in wooden tubs that fishermen use for their lines of trawl. They should be kept out of direct light and cool, at between 40 and 45°F, but not refrigerated. (It causes them to darken when cooked.) The only exception is for new potatoes, which can be stored in the fridge before cooking—if you can keep them that long