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closeSaturday, Nov. 22, 2008
Happy year of the potato!
By Marianne C. Ophardt, Special to the Herald
Nobody told me. Did they tell you? 2008 is the International Year of the Potato!
Here in the Columbia Basin the potato certainly isn't a second class vegetable. Its importance to our regional agriculture is recognized by many.
However, for those of you that aren't impressed with the history and importance of these soil grown nuggets, let me enlighten you.
The potato (Solanum tuberosum) is an herbaceous annual in the nightshade family and is related to tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and the deadly nightshade vine. What's unique about the potato is its tubers that develop underground. Tubers are modified stem tissues that the plant uses to store starch.
Potatoes are a truly an American crop. About 8,000 years ago farmers in the Andes mountains of South America first began growing the potato. Through selection they were able to improve this humble wild tuber into a crop that provided food security for their burgeoning population. The potato helped give rise to the South American Huari and Tiahuanacu civilizations. While these civilizations collapsed with the rise of the Incas, the potato persisted and was a staple of the Incan diet. The Incans even developed a freeze-dried potato product and had numerous storages for harvested potatoes.
The invasion of the Spanish in the 1500s brought about the demise of the Incas, but again the potato survived. The conquistadors took the potato back to Spain and the Spanish introduced it to the rest of Europe. However, the potato wasn't quickly embraced as a nutritious food crop and was first viewed as more of plant oddity and a food source for animals.
Suspicions about the edibility of potatoes slowed the Europeans embracing the potato as a food crop. The potato's slow acceptance also was due to its poor performance as a crop under European growing conditions. The potatoes that first were planted in Europe were better adapted to the cool short day conditions found in the Andes mountains. Over time, the Europeans were able to make selections and developed potato varieties that produced better under longer day length conditions. Due to famine, the potato became an important food security crop throughout Europe in the1700s.
Through European exploration, colonization and emigration, the potato became cultivated throughout the world. It's now part of the global food system. It's ranked fourth as one of the world's most important food crops, with only corn, wheat and rice ranking higher.
The world's biggest potato producer? China. Behind China are Russia, India, Ukraine and the U.S. Top consumers per capita of potatoes are Europeans, with almost double the per capita consumption of North Americans!
Potatoes are a fairly easy crop to grow and gardeners might want to consider adding them to their gardens if they don't grow them already. When my youngest son had a 4-H garden project, his best crop was always potatoes. While not in touch with his "inner green thumb," he was still able to grow blue ribbon potatoes.
Of course, many gardeners don't want to bother growing a crop they can easily buy relatively inexpensively at the grocery store. However, you're missing out on a number of heirloom varieties of potatoes that offer a greater diversity for tasty consumption.
My favorites are red-skinned varieties, such as Sangre, Cherry Red, and Viking Red. Seed potatoes of these and other types can be ordered from two Northwest producers, Ronniger Potato Farm LLC (www.ronnigers. com) and Irish Eyes Garden Seeds (www.gardencityseeds. net).
To plant potatoes, till your garden to loosen the soil, then plant mini-tubers or seed potatoes (cut pieces of potato with one or more eyes) in rows. Make a trench and place the seed pieces about a foot apart and then cover them with about three inches of soil. If you have more than one row, space the rows about three feet or more apart.
Plant early in the season when the soil has warmed a bit to above 50 degrees. Potatoes are a cool season crop and grow best when during the moderate weather of spring and early summer. However, when planted too early they will just sit in the ground and rot before sprouting and growing. A good date for planting is about six to eight weeks before the last average frost date for your area. (May 1-15 is the average date for the last frost in our area.)
Obviously, potatoes do well in most well-drained Columbia Basin soils. The special trick for success with potatoes in our gardens is providing even moisture through the season and fertilizing with nitrogen. Irish Eyes Garden Seeds recommends fertilizing the vines early in the season with an organic foliar fertilizer, such as a fish emulsion or seaweed product. You may also add a nitrogen fertilizer to the soil at planting time. My son worked rabbit manure into the soil before planting tubers.
Since this is the International Year of the Potato let's celebrate it at Thanksgiving by eating some of these nutritious American tubers that have become a staple food around the world.
* Marianne C. Ophardt is a horticulturist for the Washington State University Extension Office in Benton County.
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