Hello all,

The puzzle is that I believed that the vines never flowered...

Someone with whom I work pointed out this morning that I was away from
the garden from about June 10 for nearly two weeks...

I live in New Hampshire...

It now appears likely that I simply missed the flowering of the vines.

This morning I got out a fork, trudged over to the garden, and
harvested the first of my potatoes. They were wonderful!

Thanks to all,

Funny, I have the exact same thing happening - Yukon Golds, in VT, and
just got back from a week away to find the potatoes wilting and
yellowing - I also never saw them flower at all but was also away for
about a week in June. I had some trouble with pests this year (mainly
some Colorado potato beetles but also some other pests), which I think
I successfully treated using interplanting of dead nettle and picking
the buggers off.

Anyway I couldn't figure out what the heck was killing the plants as I
usually experience pretty healthy growth through August. I dug around
one plant before it started pouring and did find one potato - but had
to give it up due to rain. I hope I find the same thing when I dig
tomorrow. This is my first year with Yukon golds, maybe they are just
a bit different and die off earlier?