During Katriel’s spring break from Purdue, she and Tim were so anxious to plant something – anything really – they decided that it was time to get seed potatoes in the ground. Personally, I thought they were a little crazy. It had snowed the day before. And, to be honest, I’m not a huge fan of gardening. I grew up on a farm and every spring we had to plant what seemed like a million acres of vegetables most of which I didn’t like to eat. It was hard, sweaty work that I didn’t want to do.
Let Tim Work!
These days, the work has actually gotten easier with tools like the Hoss Double Wheel Hoe. After tilling the soil with Johnny, Tim adjusted the plows on the Wheel Hoe such that the points touched each other making it was easy to dig the furrow for the potatoes. All he had to do was push the hoe down the length of the garden. All I had to do was sip sweet tea.
While I was off doing something I can’t remember (old age), Tim and Katriel went to Menard’s to buy the seed potatoes. They purchased Red Lasoda and Mega Chip varieties. I think they picked Mega Chip just because they liked the name. Who wouldn’t want Mega Chips! The cashier got a big kick out of being videoed for our YouTube channel. Tim and Katriel were probably her strangest customers all day.
Hard Labor
Then came my part of the project (probably harder than Tim’s). I had to cut all those seed potatoes into sections containing at least 2 eyes. Then Katriel and I placed one section at a time into the newly plowed furrow while Tim stood back and bossed. We used our feet as measuring sticks. This process was quite the balance challenge. Katriel and I almost fell over several times. I am sure the neighbors found us amusing.
Tim finally decided he could do something besides talk– so he repositioned the plows on the Hoss Wheel Hoe to the outside edges so that the soil would be thrown back in over the seed potatoes. This only took a couple of minutes. He likes to make us think he’s working hard but we know the truth. I wish my family had had one of these wheel hoes when I was growing up. I might not have dreaded the annual gardening. Someone at Hoss knew this, and designed a Junior Wheel Hoe with shorter handles “to accommodate the woman or youth gardener” i.e. short people like me and Katriel! If only I had one of those way back when…
On The Road Again
Next came the fertilizer but as usual with our projects, we didn’t have enough. So off to Menard’s they went (again!!). It’s a good thing Menard’s is 5 minutes from our house. I stayed home to cook dinner which included one of their favorite potato dishes (recipe below). They stayed longer this trip, I think they evaluated every bag of fertilizer in the store.
Once home, Tim and Katriel lovingly spread fertilizer beside each carefully planted row of potatoes. Tim once again reconfigured the wheel hoe to cover over the fertilizer. I think they love that tool. I understand – I love my kitchen gadgets.
Overall, the project was easy and fun. Maybe I’m just older and able to enjoy it more. Now we are watching every day waiting to see the potatoes break through the ground. It’s a little like watching paint dry but one day, we’ll see green.
Oven Fried Potatoes
6 medium potatoes (russet, mega chip)
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt (kosher or table)
1 tablespoon seasoned salt
Preheat oven to 425 degrees (400 degree is using convection)
Wash and peel potatoes (unless you like the skins). Cut potatoes into bite size pieces in a large bowl. While cutting the potatoes, place pieces into water to cover, this keeps the potatoes from turning brown during the process. Drain off the water and add olive oil and seasonings. Stir to coat all of the potato pieces. Spread out evenly onto a greased 9×13” baking pan. Cook approximately 20 minutes, remove from oven and stir to turn over potatoes. Return to the oven for another 15 – 20 minutes or until golden brown and delicious. Serve Immediately.
(P.S. Tim’s says to bring the oven baked potatoes over after you make them!)
Well if I tried planting heel to toe like that I’m sure there would be two plantings going on. Potatoe planting and face planting. Maybe I will just carry a old sho in my hand instead of trying to walk that row
Ha, yea, this is more of a joke than anything else.
But I agree, I think you need a shoe to be able to measure the appropriate distance. Of course, it doesn’t matter what SIZE shoe. Just heel to toe on ANY size shoe is perfect! 🙂
I grew up on a farm and perhaps because we used a McCormick Farmall Super A tractor for all our tilling, I tend to favor using the tractor rather than a hand plow. I was wondering why you didn’t use your heavy hitch attachments to make the potato hills and to cut a groove in the top for placing the potatoes, then back with the disks on each side to cover the seeds. You mention that one tractor can’t do everything. But the one thing our Farmall did to perfection was cultivating crops a single row at a time. I have no idea how old it was, but I’m in my sixties now and I can’t remember a time when we did not have it. I would probably still be using it today if it had not been in an old barn shelter that collapsed during high winds. I started this comment to write about storing potatoes, but got side-tracked. I wanted to tell you that my grandparents successfully stored their potatoes all winter in a dark corner of the hay barn, scattered out and buried in loose wheat or oak straw. I assume the potatoes would freeze occasionally but remained in good enough shape that we would use what had not been eaten by the Spring to seed our next crop.