John McGaw wrote in
:

On 6/18/2011 6:52 PM, Zootal wrote:
I have a 50 foot long bed of potatoes. They are growing well, but
they have started to bloom. Is there any kind of a rule of thumb for
how long from blossoms to harvest? They have never bloomed so early
in the season before.

I've always been taught that one simply waits until the plant dies
back and then carefully digs up the tubers. If the ground is dry and
well-drained then it is safe to wait a bit before harvesting but if
the ground is wet it is necessary to harvest immediately to avoid rot.
That said, I haven't actually grown potatoes since I was a child but
even then it seemed pretty easy and sometimes the yield was amazing
for such a small piece of ground and so little effort.

They are starting to die back already. They look like the healthiest spuds
I've grown in several years, nice and green and well formed, but the plants
are smaller then usual. They started blooming earlier and smaller than I've
seen them do in prior years. Now they are falling over and the lower leaves
are yellowing, so the die back is starting. Looks like whatever tubers are
going to develop are already there, so I'm giong to start digging them up
over the course of the next few weeks.

I need the ground fall planting, which has to be done by mid July or so
because summers don't last long here (dang global warming).