The Modern Victory Garden

Hello all,

My Yukon Golds have recently completely fallen over. They are very tall....about 4 feet. Nice and green but they seem leggy. They are in full bloom. Should I harvest and start over?

Thanks, Larry

That is the normal progression for potatoes!  My Yukon Golds just did the same thing and it makes me happy!   This is the start of the process whereby the plants start taking all that photosynthesis energy from the top growth and start shuttling it to the tubers for storage... resulting in the spuds getting big.  Potatoes get ugly during this phase of the process and are not a photogenic crop once past the top growth phase - but you are on the road to potatoes at this point.  The final process is a complete die back of the vegetation and a drying/curing period where the skins harden up on the spuds.   Once that happens they are safe to pull and store.   In the meantime, you can steal some young potatoes that have soft skins for fresh eating.   I was planning to do a test dig on one plant to see if I have some reasonable sized baby potatoes to harvest.  

Thanks Laura,

I guess I am used to them gradually falling over instead of all falling over at once after the rain shower. I guess I'll just let them die off now.

Larry

The fall over is more dramatic this year because our growth has been so lush with all the rains and cool conditions.  My potatoes are extra tall this year too and I know that is likely a result of all the rain we have had.