Potato Seeds

Years ago, when the vegetable garden was new, I planted everything. I planted okra, a really lovely plant from the hibiscus family. The leaves are different but not the flowers, a creamy white that opens just like hibiscus flowers and quite prolific. I like them coated in corn meal and fried. Like eating popcorn only better.

I had some potatoes that sprouted eyes, so, I took them out, cut them in pieces and planted them. Had lots of red potatoes later in the year. It was no problem, no wonder the tuber is grown all over the world. But that's not what seed catalogs tell you. For some reason, when you buy potato seeds, which are nothing more than a left over potato, that all changes. I read the directions three times, maybe four. Take them out of the paper sacks if you aren't going to plant within two weeks. Place in a warm dark area until they eye up. Then place them in a cool lighted place to green up. After that you can cut the seed into sections but you want at least two eyes to each section. Plant them in mounds of rich organic material.

I forgot what it cost me, they came from Maine and I ordered them back in the winter, around Christmas. They just got here the other day. Small little spuds none as large as a chicken egg but they are different colors. Red, blue, white with red skin, yellow and the flowers are the colors of the potato. Say you have a red potato with white flesh. The flower is suppose to be red and white. Blue for blue potatoes and so on.

You see, the seed catalog said it wasn't a good idea to use potatoes that come from the market because they spray them with a chemical to impede sprouting. Okay, maybe they do, but it doesn't seem to work on any potato I had left over in the refrigerator. All I have to do is put a potato at the bottom of the vegetable bin and in three days it will sprout like crazy.

Now I'm watching these little nuggets in their cardboard box from an organic farm in Maine, waiting for the damn things to sprout something. So far they look like dirt balls sitting in a box. Not a sprout on them and I'm wondering, should I plop them in the frig, nestled with the rotting lettuce at the bottom of the bin? Would they sprout then or should I go to the store, like I did years ago and get potatoes that are just waiting to get home to sprout within three days if I don't use them. What has the seed catalog wrought?