Member-only story
One Potato, Two Potato . . .
The email announcing the shipment of my seed potatoes landed in my inbox today. That annual email always makes me smile. It brings back vivid memories of the first time that I grew potatoes.
Did you know that it is impossible to buy a small quantity of seed potatoes? The smallest quantity that I could find that first year was two pounds. Two pounds of seed potatoes doesn’t sound like much but they can yield up to 50 pounds of potatoes. And all of that fifty pounds has to be harvested at once. Where would I store that many potatoes? I don’t have a root cellar or a basement. I deferred that decision until the fall and ordered my two pounds of seed potatoes.
Of course I chose the most difficult way to grow potatoes. No fancy raised beds or cute potato bags for me. No, I chose to dig trenches with my trusty shovel. Four trenches 10 inches deep sounded doable and a good workout after an indolent winter. So one April morning I headed out to my plot in a community garden. It was a glorious spring day. The sky was sunny and blue. The breeze was crisp and refreshing. A perfect day to dig trenches. After the first trench reality set in. My winter of indolence had caught up with me. I kept stopping to rest, lungs gasping for air, long unused muscles screaming in agony. It took two hours to dig all four trenches.
