Harvesting your potatoes:
Normally, seven or eight weeks after planting, the earliest varieties are blossoming. This signifies that early potatoes may be ready, so gently poke into a potato hill by hand to see what you can find while making as little disturbance as possible. The ideal time to harvest is when the vines are dead. It is best to wait until heavy frosts kill the tops off or, if your tubers are fully-sized up but no frost is in sight, you can mow the tops or cut them off by hand with a sickle. But if you can wait for the tops to die back naturally, your harvest will be a little bigger and your potatoes just a tad richer. Dryish soil is definitely an advantage when harvesting; the tubers come up a lot cleaner and with much less effort. After the tops are dead, rest the tubers in the ground, undisturbed for two weeks to allow the skins to "toughen up", protecting the tubers from scuffing and bruising during harvest and storage. Minor injuries in the skin may heal if allowed to dry. It is better to harvest in the cool morning hours.
Ready to cure your potatoes?
1. Rinse your potatoes with clean, fresh water. No need to scrub, or remove any soil that may be in cracks or crevasses on the skin.
2. Carefully pat your potatoes dry with a clean towel.
3. Once dry, place your potatoes in a single layer on a flat surface and cover them with a towel to prevent any light hitting them.
4. Wait approximately 7-10 days for your potatoes to cure.
5. Store in a single layer, inside of a cardboard box. Place this box in a cool, and dark location. Remember that potatoes are mostly water, so keeping them in an environment with high humidity will help keep them from shriveling during storage.
