A previous article about potato onions provided detailed information on this unusual root crop, along with tips for growing them in the backyard garden. Today I wanted to share a few photos from this summer’s harvest of these unique onions.

Harvesting Potato Onions

The  leaves died back weeks ago leaving the onions ready for harvest, but they were forgiving enough to wait until I got around to harvesting them. A few had sprouted and begun sending up new growth, but the majority sat patiently waiting to be dug up.

Harvesting was a breeze since these pungent bulbs don’t grow far beneath the soil’s surface. It’s still best to use a digging fork to carefully loosen the soil around the clusters of bulbs before lifting them from the garden.

Drying and Curing Potato Onions

After harvesting I spread the potato onions in a single layer on a tray to allow them to dry and cure before storing them. This treatment will help prevent mold and rotting after the bulbs are tucked away for future use in the kitchen.

The potato onions can be cured indoors in a spare room where they can be kept dry and maintained at your home’s normal room temperature.

If you’re a longtime gardener who has never seen a potato onion don’t be embarrassed, they’re really not common and I’ve never seen one fo sale at any grocer or farmer’s market. That’s a shame because they really are tasty and just as easy to cultivate as when caring for gourmet garlic.

Not Your Normal Everyday Onion Variety

The skins are copper colored and the potato onion bulbs resemble shallots, only much larger. Some of the potato onion bulbs will approach the size of regular onions, but if you compare the entire grouping, the potato onions are actually larger and may even produce better overall yields.

The similarity to shallot bulbs is due to the way that the potato onions grow into clusters of individual bulbs that are connected at their base where the root system is formed. Each cluster will consist or variously sized bulbs, all of which are suitable for eating or replanting in the garden.

Using Potato Onions for Seed or Feed

Unlike garlic seed stock, where you want to use the largest bulbs as your seed crop, I prefer to replant various sizes of potato onions for next year’s harvest. I plant my potato onions in the fall at the same time or a little earlier as my fall grown garlic. You can plant potato onions and pretty much forget about them until harvest time (or as in my case, well past harvest time).

I really enjoy the flavor of potato onions and cook them or include in recipes just as I would use regular yellow or red onion varieties. They are smaller and can be a little more tedious to peel and prepare for cooking. All in all, potato onions can do anything that the standard onion types can, and do it longer, as they hold up extremely well in storage.

So there you have it; easier growing, great tasting, and long storage capabilities; that’s why potato onions are the only type of onion that I regularly plant in my garden these days. If you haven’t tried them in your own garden, then what’s holding you back.

“We live in the deep south part of Louisiana. Our shallots are ready for harvest now. You spoke of drying and curing… could you please elaborate? I have an over zealous gardening husband and we are blessed with a very large amount, Thanks!”

Preserving Those Precious Shallot Bulbs

Hi Charlene, I can relate to your husband’s condition especially when it comes to growing shallots and garlic. Be sure to thank your over zealous gardener because fresh shallots are a delicious gourmet treat that you’d pay dearly for at the local market!

Curing shallots is a simple but important process, especially if you plan to store the bulbs or use them as seed stock. Begin by harvesting the mature shallots and lightly brush off any clumps of soil, being careful not to bruise the bulbs or damage the copper colored skins.

Work quickly or harvest the shallots in batches to avoid exposing them to direct sunlight for any length of time. And whatever you do, DON’T wash the shallots. It’s not that water will ruin the shallots, but it would draw out the curing process and open the door for mold and diseases.

Simple Shallot Drying & Curing Procedures

Leave the shriveled leaves and the roots attached at this point. It doesn’t matter whether the cloves remain attached together or are separated into individual pieces during curing. It may make it a little easier to manage by leaving the cloves attached to each other.

Spread the shallots out in a single layer in a dry and shaded location. You can set them up to cure indoors or out, as long as the area is dry and warm, but not hot; you want to cure the bulbs, not bake them. Ideally use containers such as mesh-like plastic trays or screening material that will allow air to circulate all around the bulbs.

Allow the freshly harvested shallots to dry and cure for a week or two and they will be ready for storage. Shallots can be eaten right from the garden without curing, but the curing process will enable the bulbs to keep better in storage and may also help to control the spread of diseases.

Storing Cured Shallot Bulbs

After the curing is complete cut off whatever remains of the dried shallot leaves and trim the roots if desired. Until they are needed in the kitchen you will want to keep the bulbs dry and cool, but do not refrigerate them.

They will keep well under the same conditions that you would store onions or garlic bulbs. Store in shallow ventilated containers or mesh onion bags. Check the shallots periodically to remove any bulbs that are sprouting or have spoiled.

With care you’ll enjoy your own delicious shallots for many months to come. But before you get carried away preparing gourmet meals, set aside enough of the largest and healthiest looking shallot cloves to use as your own seed stock for the next season’s crop.

I say at least one variety because it’s turned into a difficult decision to select among several varieties that I am interested in growing in my garden this season.

Rare Potatoes for the Home Garden

I settled on growing a fingerling type potato because I really like the waxy texture and the versatility that they offer in the kitchen. Fingerlings are just as easy to grow as the common standard potato varieties.

I enjoy the unique qualities that fingerlings offer, and while they are starting to become more obtainable in conventional supermarkets, the quality doesn’t come close to what home gardeners can achieve in their own backyards.

Many heirloom fingerling potatoes also have interesting stories surrounding their history, background, and introduction to the Americas.

Tempting Fingerling Varieties

I was eyeing several different fingerling potatoes from which to select a variety to plant in my garden this growing season:

• French Fingerling – Rumored to have been smuggled to America from France in the 1800’s. This gourmet fingerling has a bright red skin, yellow flesh, and lends itself to a range of preparations in the kitchen. Smoother, shorter, and rounder than most fingerling types.
• Austrian Crescent – A great yielding fingerling potato that will produce large quantities of pale yellow skinned potatoes with a light yellow flesh. These attractive tubers can grow to ten inches in length.
• Ozette – Another good yielder, this fingerling was brought to America by Spanish explorers in the 1700’s and was quickly adopted by Native American tribes in the Northwest. Unassuming appearance with a pale golden skin and flesh, and a nutty flavor makes this one of the best tasting fingerling varieties.
• Rose Fin Apple – This is an all purpose fingerling potato with a reputation for creating great potato salads due to its flavor and pleasant waxy texture. Pale red skin covering a rich golden yellow flesh.
• Purple Peruvian – A South American variety with purple skin and bright purple flesh, one of the most colorful blue or purple potato varieties available. A delicious and nutritious fingerling choice for the home gardener.

And the Winner Is…

These are just a few of the interesting fingerling potato varieties that are available to the home gardener. If my garden was larger I would love to grow more of them, but this year I decided on planting two; the Purple Peruvian and the Ozette.

They both appeal to my taste buds, in addition the Purple Peruvian will satisfy my cravings for something unusual and ornamental, while the Ozette fingerlings will fill the role of an all purpose potato that’s versatile and productive.

Potato onions are actually a type of onion that has more in common with a shallot than either a potato or an onion, so don’t ask me how it got its name.

Why Grow Potato Onions

One thing is for sure; if you’ve struggled to grow onions in your garden, then potato onions may be the perfect solution, and an easy growing alternative that will have you harvesting plenty of flavorful onions right from your own backyard.

Potato Onions aren’t as common as the regular onions that you find at the grocer, but they’re much more convenient for the gardener and offer unique qualities and subtle flavors to the gourmet cook in the kitchen.

You’ll also have less concern with issues such as selecting varieties that are best suited for your soil type, growing region, and day length, which you often experience when growing the standard types of onions.

Potato Onion Characteristics

In appearance and growth habits potato onions resemble shallots and other multiplier onions such as Egyptian Walking Onions. Their advantages and unique characteristics include the following:

• Potato Onions are easy to grow and are best when planted during the fall season. They will over winter right in the garden and send up early spring growth as soon as the weather begins to warm.
• These multipliers are very productive and also resistant to insect pests. Rather than produce a single onion, potato onions produce bulbs in clusters of three to five onions which are connected at their base just like shallots.
• Each cluster of onions will contain an assortment of sizes, all of which can be eaten or replanted into the garden.
• Potato Onions are versatile; you can harvest leaf growth in early spring to use as “spring greens.” While the mature bulbs keep extremely well and can be stored in the home through the winter months until they are needed for cooking.
• The bulbs themselves are much larger than shallots and are easy to peel and prepare for kitchen use. Potato Onions have a mild, sweet taste that I prefer over regular onions, and will impart more of a distinctly gourmet flavor to your favorite recipes when used in place of onions.
• Once you plant Potato Onions in your garden you’ll have an everlasting and continuous supply. It couldn’t be any easier to save your own seed to use when replanting. All you do is set aside a mix of the best bulbs that you harvest to replant in the fall.

Challenging Aspect of Growing Potato Onions

Grow, harvest, cure, and store your Potato Onions in the same manner and using the same techniques that you would follow when growing shallots. You’ll find that Potato Onions are just as easy to grow as shallots and garlic in the home garden.

You may be wondering; if Potato Onions are as good as I’m making them out to be, why haven’t you heard more about them? I’m not sure why they aren’t more popular, but my guess would be that it’s because they aren’t as easy to grow in a commercial farm environment. And of course the seed suppliers cater to the needs and desires of the commercial growers who purchase larger amounts of seed.

In fact, your biggest challenge in growing Potato Onions will probably be locating the seed for your first planting. There just aren’t many suppliers that market potato onions, and those that do usually sell out quickly. Reserve seed early for summer shipments and fall planting.

Fortunately as I mentioned earlier, obtaining seed is a one time event and you won’t have to repurchase seed every year. So if you’re interested in trying this interesting and easy to grow gourmet vegetable locate a source to purchase seed stock and don’t forget to set aside part of your initial harvest for future plantings.

Many people are clueless about just how good rutabagas are, and I have to confess that I was one of them and missed out on enjoying this delicious vegetable in the kitchen as well as the garden for many years.

Delicious Organically Grown Rutabagas

Rutabagas are also referred to as Swedes or Yellow Turnips. Even if you haven’t tried them you’ve probably seen the large purple and yellow globes sitting on the shelves at your local grocer coated with a thick layer of paraffin-like wax.

I know that eating waxy produce doesn’t sound too appetizing, but if grown and dug fresh from the home garden there’ll be no need for waxes or chemicals as rutabagas are a cinch to grow organically.

Rutabagas are very similar to turnips but the roots, which are the edible part of the plant that is raised for food, grow much larger and have a sweeter, milder flavor than turnips. While the leaves are edible, they are not commonly eaten.

Like turnips, rutabagas are a cool weather vegetable but they require a longer growing season and should be planted earlier than other fall crops.

Growing Your Own Rutabagas

The rutabaga seeds are small and look just like cabbage, kale, or other Cole family crops. Sow the seeds thinly about half an inch deep and gradually thin the seedlings as they are growing to allow about eight inches between the plants.

Keep the rutabaga plants watered and weeded and you’ll discover that this root vegetable is relatively care free to maintain. I’ve never seen this crop troubled by disease or insect infestations.

One problem that I have encountered when growing rutabagas has been an occasional season when the plants produced healthy leaf growth but failed to develop harvestable roots. It wasn’t obvious to me whether this was due to soil fertility issues, the plants being overcrowded, or the timing of the planting of the seeds.

My guess is that the problem was the result of poor timing when I planted the seeds. They weren’t planted early enough and just didn’t have enough time to form edible sized roots. Rutabagas don’t grow or mature as rapidly as turnips, so make sure that you give them plenty of time to mature.

Harvesting and Cooking Home Grown Rutabagas

There are different varieties of rutabagas but they are all pretty similar to one another. Popular rutabaga varieties include: American Purple Top Yellow, Laurentian, Acme Purple Top, Best of All, Joan, and Marian.

Rutabagas are easier to harvest than most root crops because the roots grow on top of the soil and can be harvested by lifting rather than digging the roots. Harvest the rutabaga roots in the fall after they reach the size that you prefer. If well grown rutabagas are capable of reaching enormous sizes in the garden bed.

The simplest way to cook rutabagas is to carefully cut the roots into cubes and boil or steam them in a small amount of water until they are tender. They can be roasted or prepared just as you would cook turnips. Fresh rutabagas are also delicious when combined with other root crops such as carrots, turnips, salsify, and parsnips.

You may also be surprised to discover just how many different colors of carrots the resourceful gardener can grow in an ornamental vegetable garden.

Exciting New Colors from an Ancient Root Crop

In addition to the usual shade of orange there are some pretty far out colors that you can use to compliment your favorite recipes and add interest to your meals. There are red carrots, purple ones, even yellow, white, and two-toned varieties that will add more interest to the garden and to your diet.

Don’t worry these “new” shades aren’t simply the result of a plant breeder mixing genetic material to develop modern hybrid varieties. In fact some of the colorful carrots are actually heirlooms that have been around longer than the common orange varieties that were planted by our parents and grandparents.

The seed catalogs describe the taste of these colorful carrot varieties as having a spicier flavor but the ones that I’ve sampled have tasted pretty close to the normal everyday varieties. Another similarity is that these unusual looking carrots can be cultivated in the same manner that you’ve been growing ordinary carrot varieties.

More to Carrot Colors than Meets the Eye

Sure it would be nice to take advantage of these ornamental carrots to treat the family to something new, or to impress dinner guests with an attractive and tasty dish that they had never seen. How about a patriotic relish tray consisting of red, white, and dark purple carrot sticks? Buttery yellow-colored parsley carrot rounds, or a fresh salad adorned with colorful flakes of grated purple or red carrots?

Colorful carrots aren’t just appealing to the Martha Stewart types. A new trend in nutrition is to link colors with specific nutrients found in foods. For example orange has been associated with high levels of beta-carotene, while red is linked to the presence of healthful lycopene.

Plant nutrients and colors can then be associated with specific health conditions or nutritional deficiencies. Because there are many unidentified nutrients and compounds in our foods, color can be used as a marker or gauge to help ensure that we are obtaining a wide variety of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients to maintain good health. Just make sure that your meals include a range of different colored fresh foods.

Ornamental Carrots for the Home garden

Your local grocer may still only offer the traditional orange carrot varieties, but vegetable seed suppliers are adding new selections every season. Here are a few of the colorful carrots that I’ve noticed recently:

• Solar Yellow Carrot - Sweet, juicy 6″ – 7″ long carrots with attractive yellow roots.
• Belgian White Carrot – Mild flavored carrot with large white roots.
• Atomic Red Carrot - These bright red 8″ roots are loaded with high amounts of lycopene.
• Amarillo Yellow Carrot - Yellow variety with broad shoulders and tapered roots.
• Cosmic Purple Carrot – Purple roots covering yellow to orange colored flesh.
• Lunar White Carrot - This variety produces a pure white carrot inside and out.
• Rainbow Carrot Mixture – Blend of hybrid yellow, white, and orange carrots offered by Johnny’s.
• Purple Haze Carrot – A hybrid variety from Johnny’s, purple exterior with orange interior.
• Purple Dragon Carrot – Another purple skinned carrot with a bright orange interior.

If you’d like to discover other unique vegetable varieties in colors that you might not recognize read the articles on Heirloom Vegetables and Tomato Varieties that were previously posted on this site.

Salsify is a rather uncommon root crop that is not often found growing in home gardens, but is actually a very care free vegetable to cultivate.

Planting and Growing Salsify or Oyster Plant

Oyster plant’s main claim to fame is for producing an edible root with a taste that is similar to oysters. I have to confess that while I’ve grown oyster plants for a number of years, I have never eaten it, which I’ll explain the reason for a little later in this article.

Despite my resistance to cooking Salsify, I’ve grown it out of curiosity as an ornamental plant and to attract beneficial insects, which are drawn to the plant’s purple flowers. As a biennial, these flowers typically don’t show up in the garden until the plants second season of growth.

To grow salsify scatter the stick-like seeds over a deeply loosened and composted raised bed, and cover the seeds with a thin layer of topsoil or fine compost. Like parsnips, always use fresh seeds as they lose viability rather quickly. Plant salsify as early as possible in the spring for a fall harvest.

Be careful that you don’t dislodge the germinating seedlings as they look more like tiny twigs protruding from the ground than any type of vegetable plant that I’ve ever seen.

Harvesting and Preparing Vegetable Oyster Roots

The brown seedlings will eventually grow into long, slender, clumps of grass like green leaves that are also edible and can be added to mixed salads. The tan colored roots can reach eight to twelve inches in length and about an inch in diameter.

Mature salsify roots can be dug up in the fall or they can be left in the ground over the winter and will resprout new leaves and produce both flowers and seeds during subsequent seasons. I’ve noticed roots that continue to grow for a number of years from a single planting.

As I mentioned earlier, I have never cooked salsify roots, and the reason is that they seemed somewhat of a hassle to prepare. First you have to carefully wash them and remove the thin skin by peeling or scraping. The roots also exude a sticky, milky white liquid when they are cut into.

Once the outer layer of skin has been removed the roots must be quickly covered with cool water containing lemon juice or vinegar in order to prevent discoloration. From there one popular recipe calls for boiling the roots, mashing the cooked salsify, and forming them into fritters which are then fried. All of which explains my reluctance to try them out in the kitchen.

I’ve recently noticed simpler cooking methods that involve a more basic sauteing or steaming of the salsify roots, or including them in soups or stews, so I plan to make it a point to actually try them out this season.

Black Salsify and Other Varieties

There are a few varieties of oyster plant listed in the vegetable seed catalogs including Mammoth Sandwich Island, French Blue Flowered, and Improved Mammoth.

In addition you’ll find a similar vegetable called Scorzonera or Black Salsify which has an identical growth habit. Scorzonera produces wider leaves, yellow flowers and a black skinned root, but is otherwise very similar to salsify and can be grown, harvested, and prepared in the same manner.

Fingerling Potato Characteristics

I like fingerling potatoes because they’re unusual, attractive, tasty, and easy to grow in the backyard garden. Fingerlings are also very productive and display very good disease resistance.

As the name suggests, fingerling potatoes are somewhat finger shaped in appearance. They are smaller, longer, and much narrower than the more common and popular potato varieties.They also have fewer and shallower eyes.

Skin colors range from red, pink, and white, to yellow, purple, or cream colored. The flesh is usually white, yellow, pink, or blue in color.

Cooking with Fingerling Potatoes

Fingerling potatoes are delicious and can be prepared and cooked the same as ordinary potatoes. Some fingerling varieties such as “Russian Banana” are especially suited to creating fantastic potato salads because of their flavor and firm, almost waxy textures.

In addition to making great potato salads, fingerlings are great when boiled, baked, or roasted. They can even be grilled, roasted over coals, or added to vegetable kabobs.

Cultivation and Harvesting

Plant fingerling varieties just as you would plant other varieties, except you can plant the seed tubers whole or cut in half. The growing season is longer for fingerlings and they require more time to mature and size up.

Don’t bother with trying to harvest baby fingerlings, just let them grow until it’s time to harvest mature potatoes when the vines start to die back. After harvesting, brush the dirt off but don’t wash them until you’re ready to cook them, and avoid prolonged exposure to sunlight.

Attractive Fingerling Varieties

Popular fingerling potato varieties include:

• Rose Finn Apple – Great tasting fingerling with rose colored skin and yellow flesh.
• French Fingerling – Another red skinned, yellow fleshed fingerling potato.
• Swedish Peanut – Nutty flavored, golden fleshed potato that is good baked or roasted.
• Russian Banana – These yellow tubers create the ultimate potato salads.
• Red Thumb Fingerling- This one offers red skin covering reddish-pink flesh.
• Purple Peruvian – A slightly finicky, purple fingerling potato variety.