The beds in my vegetable garden are filling up quickly. We already planted a variety of crops including onions, leeks, a selection of brassicas, as well as seeds for fava beans, soy beans, beets, cilantro, and more.
A few weeks ago, we also planted our potatoes. Potatoes are grown from “seed potatoes”, which are certified disease-free and specially grown in nurseries for planting purposes. This season’s “seed potatoes” came from Irish Eyes Garden Seeds, a small family-owned business located in Ellensburg, Washington.
Here are some photos - enjoy.
Every year, we plant a large variety of potatoes in my vegetable garden. I’ve been getting ours from Irish Eyes Garden Seeds for years. The company is one of only 10-certified organic seed potato growers nationwide. Here is one of the potato “seeds.” Each tuber or potato has several buds. These are the small sprouts we call potato “eyes.” It’s from these buds that new potato plants can grow.
I like to plant different varieties – some of our favorites from years past as well as those I haven’t yet tried. Among this season’s selections – ‘Albertine’, a new variety exclusive to Irish Eyes. Albertine potatoes have yellow, smooth skin, shallow eyes and yellow flesh. It is disease resistant and a good variety for first time potato growers.
‘Kennebec’ potatoes are short oval potatoes with smooth, pale yellow skin, shallow eyes and white flesh. They’re great for fries, hash browns, and many other uses even without peeling.
The ‘Yukon Gold’ potato is a round tuber with smooth, thin yellow skin with pink coloring around shallow eyes and yellow flesh. It provides excellent flavor when baked, boiled or made into salads or fries. This best selling early variety is a moderate keeper, and is drought-tolerant.
The potatoes need some preparation before planting. Some of the bigger varieties – bigger than the average sized chicken egg – are cut into pieces. Each piece should have at least two eyes.
Next, Ryan takes each cut side of a potato and coats it with Douglas fir bark dust.
This dust helps to heal the sliced area, so it doesn’t shrink or curl. The slightly acidic bark is also a natural fungicide and moisture buildup barrier.
Ryan carefully dips each piece into the dust until it is completely coated. Potatoes contain 18-percent starch, two-percent protein, and small amounts of vitamin-B6, iron, niacin, magnesium, thiamin, folic acid, and potassium. They are also a good source of vitamin-C, low in sodium and easy to digest.
Here is is easy to see the coated potato halves.
Ryan does the same for all the potatoes, keeping them separated in trays by variety. ‘Dark Red Norland’ potatoes are loved for their richer red skin color. These are round to oblong tubers with white flesh. They store well, and are excellent for roasting and boiling.
Here’s another new variety exclusive to Irish Eyes – ‘Sunrise Gold.’ These have yellow skin and moist yellow flesh. Each ‘Sunrise Gold’ potato is large, round to oval in shape with very shallow eyes. ‘Sunrise Gold’ is a great breakfast potato.
Ryan lines up all the trays of potatoes so they’re ready to take down to the vegetable garden for planting. The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial nightshade Solanum tuberosum.
Potatoes perform best in soil with pH levels 4.8 to 5.5. Potatoes are easy to grow as long as they have access to full sun and moderate temperatures.
Potato plants are perennials that grow low to the ground like vines. Brian places each of the potato pieces about six to eight inches apart. The bed has already been prepared with twine, so the potatoes are planted in straight, tidy lines.
Three rows of twine run the entire length of each bed about 10 to 12 inches apart. Potatoes can be planted in cooler soils at least 40-degrees Fahrenheit. They do best as rotation crops and should be placed away from where potatoes, tomatoes or peppers were grown in the last two years.
Next, Phurba follows behind planting each potato. He starts by digging a hole about four to six inches deep using a garden trowel.
The seed potato pieces are placed in the ground with eyes faced up and cut sides down. When selecting seed potatoes, avoid planting those from supermarkets in case they were treated by sprout inhibitors. And look out for any green areas. The green parts of a potato’s skin, as well as the leaves of the potato plant, contain a toxic compound. Although poisoning from potatoes is rare, it’s always best to cut out these green areas when peeling potatoes before cooking.
Once the potato is in the hole, Phurba backfills with the same nutrient-rich soil, fully covering the potato. Today, potatoes are the world’s fourth-largest food crop, behind rice, wheat, and corn.
As each row is planted, Ryan places a marker, so every variety can be identified. These large white markers come from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. They’re birchwood veneer stakes made in Maine, and are treated with an environmentally-friendly, water-based preservative so they last longer through the season.
Phurba is careful to cover the seed potatoes without disturbing how they are positioned. In the United States, Idaho and Washington produce the most potatoes each year. Other states with major potato crops include North Dakota, Wisconsin, Colorado, Oregon, and Maine.
Once the potatoes are planted, Brian removes the twine from the bed. Long lines of twine can be saved for later use.
Potatoes need at least one-inch of water per week. Potatoes require less water to grow compared to other staple foods such as wheat, rice, and corn. I cannot wait until harvest time – a first modest harvest of potatoes should be ready about 65 to 70 days after planting.
I hope you have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend. Here's one more encore blog posting - this one was originally published on June 10, 2019. Enjoy.
Whenever I go to Skylands, my home in Seal Harbor, Maine, the days are always filled with lots of great activities - hiking, shopping, and touring local gardens are often on my list. I also love nature strolls through Skylands, and of course, spending time with good friends while preparing and sharing delicious meals.
Here are a few more photos from my weekend in Maine. I took many of these images, but a large number of pictures were also taken by my guests, Kevin Sharkey, and Kate Berry. Enjoy.
I love playing Scrabble® and this is my Scrabble® board, which is always set-up in my Living Hall. Cheryl and Gretchen, who help me take care of Skylands, spelled out this welcome message for me and my guests.
On the first morning of our stay, I decided to make French toast using this delicious brioche I made from the new book, “Baking at République: Masterful Techniques and Recipes” by Los Angeles baker, Margarita Manzke.
I love making French toast – it’s a great breakfast recipe for company. In my recipe, I also add a couple tablespoons of orange liquor, such as Grand Marnier – it gives the French toast a fresh citrusy flavor.
I also served homemade pink applesauce, fresh yogurt, and fresh squeezed orange juice.
This is an antique calendar that Cheryl and Gretchen update every day – it sits on the table in my kitchen. On the left is a three-minute egg timer I put there last year – it is very accurate.
Here is the French toast coated and sizzling in the skillet with four tablespoons oil and two tablespoons butter. They are cooked until golden brown on both sides – about five minutes per batch, flipping only once.
I added bits of bacon to each serving – every morsel was devoured.
After finishing our planting chores out on my Skylands terrace, we took a short drive to Surry Gardens, in Surry, Maine. I visit this nursery often. It has more than five acres dedicated to growing and selling the area’s largest selection of unusual perennials and classic shrubs.
I bought several specimens to add to my gardens at the farm.
That evening back at Skylands, Kate and some of my other guests went out to pick some rhubarb for our dessert.
One of the few perennial vegetables, rhubarb grows back year after year if cared for and picked properly. A ripe stalk should be about the width of a finger and feel firm. When harvesting, twist and pull the stalks as close as possible to the base of the plant. Rhubarb stalks should always be twisted clean from the crown to invigorate the roots to produce more. Collect only a third of the stalks per plant each season. This avoids over-stressing. And remember, rhubarb leaves contain oxalic acid, so never eat them.
Before dinner, Kevin was tasked with making some martinis for the group. He never made them before but took on the challenge and they were superb!
Saturday night’s dinner included fresh asparagus grown in my Bedford, New York garden.
We also had some delicious bread with herbs and butter.
Our main dish included these fresh clams from Parsons Lobster and Seafood Shop in Bar Harbor.
Everyone was very hungry after such a busy day.
We all enjoyed pasta topped with our clams.
With the fresh rhubarb, I made this rhubarb crisp. Each piece was served with homemade creme fraiche.
Skylands is so relaxing. This is my living room in the early morning. The telescope originally belonged to Edsel Ford.
My living room is decorated with lithographs by artist and collector, Carroll Sargent Tyson. The collection includes the native birds of Mount Desert Island.
This lead window in my living room looks out onto the giant terrace.
Kevin took this photo of the butler’s pantry, where linen table cloths are rolled up and stored on dowels so they don’t have any folds or creases.
This is one wall of my Map Room – filled with all kinds of maps from Maine. I had them framed by Ahlblad’s Frame Shop in Bar Harbor, owned by Raymond Strout.
Here on this windowsill is a group of original faux bois pots.
The next morning, I decided to prepare eggs – fresh from my chickens at the farm. Here is a bowl of fresh eggs below my “Great Wall of China”.
I fried 10-eggs in this hot cast iron skillet – no turning needed. I served every guest a piece of toasted brioche with an egg on top.
Here is our breakfast table set in spring pink with a single peony bloom at the center. I also served oatmeal, fresh mango, and fresh squeezed orange juice.
I always love to take walks around Skylands whenever I am here. This photo is taken standing outside the laundry room – left at this fork goes to the back porch and right goes to the big natural pool in the meadow. The paths are filled with pine needles during summer for a gorgeous woodland look.
These steps lead up to the back porch – more pine needles marking the way.
Sunday afternoon lunch – Dungeness crabs. I had these shipped from Seattle’s Pike Place Market. Being from the west coast, Kate already knew how to clean Dungeness crabs, so she was a great help and was happy to do it.
I made the horseradish sauce from my own horseradish grown at my farm – it is always a big hit.
For dessert – more rhubarb crisp and bread pudding I made from my brioche. I made it with golden raisins and delicious yellow apples from Washington state.
Hannah took this nice photo of our group – Ryan, Chris Baker, me, Kevin and Kate. Chris is a photographer who has done a lot of work for me over the years – he now lives in Maine. It was nice to catch up with him.
After lunch, we walked down to the greenhouse shop. This is where my Boston ferns spend the winter. In a week or two, when the weather is consistently warm, these will be hung around the west terrace and my back porch.
On the last day of our stay, I made everyone a spinach and onion frittata.
During our morning drive, we stopped on Dodge Point Road to look across Seal Harbor. At the top, you can see Skylands.
We also visited Hunter’s Beach – a secluded cobblestone beach nestled in a small cove a short distance from Bar Harbor. The beach is only 100-yards long, but great for playing on the rocks.
And we made a stop at Asticou Azalea Garden in Northeast Harbor, Maine. Asticou Azalea Garden was created in 1956 by lifelong Maine resident, Charles Kenneth Savage, who was inspired by his love of native plants and his study of Japanese garden design. The Garden and its pond are open to the public from May to October each year.
Asticou features a wonderful selection of rhododendrons and azaleas, a sand garden, and a meandering collection of fine gravel pathways.
This is Higgins Antiques in Southwest Harbor. We were all successful at this shop – I got some plates decorated with lobster motifs, Kate bought some china from Japan, Kevin purchased Lenox swans, and Hannah got a few shell art cards.
Monday’s lunch – the last meal before heading back to New York – we all enjoyed lobsters, also from Parsons Lobster and Seafood Shop.
Now that many Americans are vaccinated and CDC restrictions have finally eased, I hope you're able to enjoy a lovely Memorial Day Weekend with those near and dear. Here's another encore blog that originally ran on June 2, 2017.
While in Maine, I do a lot of entertaining, and spending time with my daughter, Alexis, my grandchildren, Jude and Truman, and our many good friends. I also love touring the area’s gardens and shops, and hiking the many trails at Acadia National Park. Acadia is filled with pristine woodlands, rocky beaches, clear ponds and so much more.
Here are a few photos from my Memorial Day weekend in Maine. I took several of these photos, but a large number of the images were also taken by my guests, Douglas Friedman, and Kate Berry. Enjoy.
Skylands is so relaxing. This is the fireplace in my Living Hall – a comfortable place to sit any time of day. (Photo by Douglas Friedman @thefacinator on Instagram)
I arrived Saturday, after spending a week in Los Angeles taping the second season of “Martha and Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party”. For lunch, we enjoyed crab meat and avocado sandwiches with fresh carrots and radishes that I brought with me from my Bedford, New York farm. (Photo by Douglas Friedman)
That day we also took a short drive to Surry Gardens, in Surry, Maine. I visit this nursery often. It has more than five acres dedicated to growing and selling the area’s largest selection of unusual perennials, classic shrubs, and a huge variety of other favorite plants. (Photo by Douglas Friedman)
I bought several specimens to add to my gardens at the farm. (Photo by Douglas Friedman)
Back at Skylands, here is a row of Rockefeller’s teeth on the top edge of the granite ledge. These teeth were part of Jens Jensen’s design plan for the home. (Photo by Kate Berry @kateberryberry on Instagram)
Here is another view taken from Rockefeller’s teeth looking out toward Seal Harbor. (Photo by Kate Berry)
My guests and friends, Douglas Friedman and Kate Berry, stop for a quick photo. (Photo by Kate Berry)
Here is Kevin down by the pool on the other side of the teeth. Such a beautiful and serene place – I love Skylands. (Photo by Douglas Friedman)
These are the stairs to the west terrace. The window on the right is in what is called the pub. (Photo by Kate Berry)
These stairs are from the path up to the west terrace. Kevin is at the top landing taking a photo. (Photo by Douglas Friedman)
And, Aristide Maillol’s ‘La Riviere’. (Photo by Douglas Friedman)
Hannah and the children made a fairy village in the woodland. They used bark, sticks, seaweed and stones collected from their walks. These whimsical little structures look as if they’ve been here for some time. (Photo by Kate Berry)
Here is a view from my large terrace looking out toward Seal Harbor. (Photo by Kate Berry)
In the house, Quinn and Jude were playing the piano. Quinn said she was playing song she made up – Quinn is four. Jude, who is now six, also explained Beethoven and Mozart to Quinn during their “duet”. (Photo by Kate Berry)
Here I am holding a chicories and seaweeds salad. The recipe is from Kate Berry’s friend, Camille Becerra, chef at the downtown NYC restaurant, De Maria. It’s a new take on the kale salad! (Photo by Kate Berry)
Here are the children on a chair at the end of the “dorm” hall. They are looking at the moon and stars. (Photo by Kate Berry)
On Sunday, we hiked through Acadia National Park. Here are Jude and Truman having a wonderful time at Sand Beach. Beehive Mountain is behind them.
My grandchildren love the water and so enjoyed running through it.
This photo is taken from Great Head trail looking down to the ocean. Great head is a very popular trail because of the stunning panoramic views of the eastern coast of Mount Desert.
Here’s a view looking down at Sand Beach. Sand Beach is a little beach nestled between mountains and rocky shores on the east side of Mount Desert Island.
Here is a nice group shot of all of us, including my dear GK. (Photo courtesy of Douglas Friedman)
This is Asticou Inn – a few walked down for drinks – it is so beautiful. The view looks out towards Northeast Harbor. (Photo by Douglas Friedman)
This is in the dining room at Skylands. Hannah and Quinn are talking about the “marbled cake” they made out of Play Doh, with “toppings”. Next to them is a drawing Quinn an Jude made for me. (Photo by Kate Berry)
Here is a photo of the “cake” and the drawing from Jude and Quinn. (Photo by Kate Berry)
Sunday night, we all enjoyed a wonderful lobster dinner. Cheryl and Gretchen, who help me take care of Skylands, always set a beautiful table. (Photo by Douglas Friedman).
Monday morning, we all had a big breakfast with blueberry pancakes. I made them wild native Maine blueberries. I thought I still had blueberries from my farm stored in the freezer, but the children love the berries so much, they ate them all up. (Photo by Kate Berry)
These pancakes were so delicious – there were no leftovers. (Photo by Kate Berry)
And, of course, along with each stack of pancakes, a side of bacon. (Photo by Kate Berry)
We also had eggs – fresh from my chickens at the farm. (Photo by Douglas Friedman)
Here is a nice photo of Kate, Hannah and Katie Hatch. (Photo by Kate Berry)
It was a wonderful weekend in Maine – I can’t wait to go back. (Photo by Douglas Friedman)
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