All the Buzz at Honey B Farm: Cutting Up 'Taters

This weekend I will begin planting some things in the garden! We tilled up the soil last Saturday, and this weekend is supposed to be about 80 degrees. So I'll plant onions, potatoes, and corn to begin with. On the traditional Memorial Day (the 30th) I'll plant everything else. It seems like every year we always have a frost or freeze at the end of May, and last year we even had frost on June 6! So I never trust the weather guys.   But it's safe to plant potatoes.
     I begin by cutting up the sprouted potatoes into chunks that have one or two or more eyes (or sprouts) per piece.   Then I let them dry in trays for a couple days before planting. There are two schools of thought on cutting up seed potatoes. Some say, just cut them up and plant them. Others say cut them up and let the cut surfaces dry, so the pieces won't rot when planted.   You DO want the potato pieces to be a source of food for the growing plant, not just to rot away. But do the pieces really rot before the plant gets started? I have tried it both ways with varying results. I have read that in warm dry soil, you can plant potato pieces without drying because they won't rot quickly. I have heard that in cooler, moist soil potato pieces can rot before the plants get going. Since it's been a cool year I am going to assume that the soil is cool also, and so this year I am drying the pieces before planting.
     I bought Red Pontiac potatoes and Nordland potatoes, and I am also planting some red Russets from the grocery store that got a little old.   They will all grow.   I usually plant red potatoes because they do very well in Minnesota growing conditions, and they don't turn green as quickly as white potatoes do.   White potatoes have a tendency to grow too close to the surface and get green quickly if you aren't diligent about covering the rows with plenty of soil.
     I should end up with about 5 sixty foot rows - about 300 feet - of potato plants. Hopefully I will get somewhere around 250 to 300 lbs of potatoes to harvest this fall.   I like to can potatoes in wide mouth quart jars because they are a wonderful convenience food in the winter!   After canning, the potatoes are almost cooked, so you just open up a jar and fry them up a little for breakfast.   To make quick hash browns, I shred the canned potatoes and fry them in a cast iron skillet to crisp up. With the free range eggs from our hens, we always have a great breakfast!