Jānis decided that, considering the situation in the world — living next to an aggressor country and having Donald Trump as the president of the USA — we should plant potatoes!
Honestly… fair enough 😅
My answer was simple: “No problem. Talk to your dad — he has a tractor and knows what he’s doing.”
So he did. And so… we planted potatoes. On May 12 – why not.
I absolutely love that old Belarus T-40 tractor. It’s probably from the 1960s or 70s, never fully functioning, always making strange noises, slightly leaking something somewhere… but somehow still alive and working.
Back in autumn, Jānis’ dad plowed the future veggie garden area for me. As you already know, those plans were changed and I have raised beds. So the spot is free!
And honestly — why not use it?
First the soil gets plowed in autumn, then tilled in spring, stones are picked out, furrows are made, and finally the potatoes are planted. A proper countryside process. Love it!
So now we have five furrows of potatoes.
The best part? Potatoes are surprisingly low-maintenance here. We mostly just let them grow (well, few times Jānis dad will come to harrow the potatoes and hope for rain at the right moments. The only real job is dealing with Colorado beetles… and I hate that task with passion.
But with five furrows and five family members, we should be able to deal with the beetles quickly enough 😅
Now all that’s left is to hope they grow well.
Ilze
Discover more from a day in the life of a latvian mom
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
That looks like a smallholding – will you be producing enouigh to sell the surplus? I once had a vegetable garden that included potatoes – never tasted anything better than freshly dug up taties, steamed with a knob of butter!
I won’t sell! That is not the plan 🙂 I hope there will be enough for us! Since we don’t spray chemicals and don’t do minerals – the harvest won’t be that big 🙂
Wow! very sensible idea. Potatoes are one of my favourite foods. Good
luck with the cultivating!
Thank you! I hope they grow and will have a delicious meal with chanterelle mushroom sauce in end of june 🙂 https://latvianmom.com/2025/06/26/the-first-chanterelles-of-the-season/
Wonderful!
Thank you Jean!
Great idea, potatoes last a while and can be a great staple for many dishes. I understand your concern.
Since we don’t have cellar they have to be dig up in late August / early September (because of frost).
How long can you store them without a cellar? I only buy a couple at a time, no room for garden in the city.
Well… they wilt…so… not for long 🙂
No doubt your family and other family members will enjoy them while they are fresh.
Jānis parents has celler… so maybe, just maybe we’ll ask for “space” there 🙂 It’s not convinient – you have to get there to get them, but maybe we can do this 🙂
Do they live far or is the planning of getting them. You sure can’t be spontaneous. I like several types of potatoes and like them plain with some butter with the jackets on them as my Gramps would say. That means leave the skin one. I truly love sweet potatoes and usually eat one a week. Here sandy soil is required to grow potatoes because like you we have clay and hard soil.
Mm taters are so delicious! You can make so many things with them too. It’s very difficult to kill a well built tractor. They can outlive humans…
This is his 2nd owner 🙂
That’s cool, my family always buys John Deere tractors.
John Deere is popular here in Latvia as well, for those who have huge fields and has money to burn 🙂 Those who have small fields / homesteads to work in use soviet time tractors- Belarus 🙂
Sorry to hear that Colorado potato beetles have made their way to Latvia.
Great idea planting potatoes. Hoping you can get rid of the beetles quickly. That tractor did a great job and so did you all. We all probably need to plant potatoes.
Are you planting different varieties? Will they be harvested at a staggered pace? and finally keep them cool, dry and in the dark when harvested!
Just one! Only five furrows… and we weren’t even planning to plant potatoes this year. So we simply planted what we already had. These are fast-growing potatoes, not really meant for storing, so we’ll just dig them up as needed. 🙂
I love freshly dug potatoes — I cook them with the skins on because the skin is still so thin and delicate.