The best thing about new potatoes is the early harvest. Of course, the taste of the tender tuber is also convincing, which cannot be compared with specimens that have been stored for a long time over the winter. It comes particularly fresh from our own garden. This is how it is harvested!

New potatoes can be harvested from June/July

wait for maturity

So that both the taste and the size of the tubers are right, you should watch out for the optimal harvest time. As long as the potato plant is blooming or is still juicy green above the ground, starch is still being diligently stored in the tubers.

  • only harvest when the leaves have withered and are brown
  • starting in portions as required

Variety-dependent ripening times

There are countless new potato varieties, each of which differs in its ripening time. This is somewhere between 70 and 120 days. A rough distinction is made between three types:

  • very early varieties are harvested from June
  • the early varieties will follow from July
  • medium-early varieties are taken from the bed at the end of August

harvesting tool

When harvesting, no tuber should be left in the ground. The harvested tubers must also not be damaged so that they can be stored longer. A digging fork or special potato hoes are suitable harvesting tools. You can easily pierce the soil and then lever out the tubers.

harvest process

The tubers are formed under the main shoots of the plant. They are easy to find by searching the soil within a 50-60 cm radius around the plant.

  • first remove the dried herb
  • then pierce the digging fork from the side
  • take out tubers
  • remove coarse soil residue
  • collect in potato boxes

tips

If you cannot eat the potato tubers immediately, you should not wash them immediately after harvesting. If they still have damp soil on them, allow them to dry thoroughly before storing.

Taste the first tubers

If you are impatiently waiting for the first potato tubers of the year and suspect some underneath your potato plants, you can carefully go on a "treasure hunt". Carefully remove the soil from the side of the root area until you come across tubers.

You can carefully separate large specimens from the plant. Then cover the root area again with soil so that remaining tubers can continue to grow.

Category:

Vegetable garden