Potatoes are in the ground!

My potatoes, both wintered over in the crisper and bought in (more Blue Adirondack from Lowe's!) were laid out on paper in plastic trays pre-sprouting for almost three weeks. Here's what a tray of russets looked like just before planting-- they should look a bit wrinkly and tired because the energy is moving into the new growth:

I plant potatoes outside the fenced garden, because they are rarely nibbled by my resident rabbits and woodchuck, and grow back fast.  I am also careful to plant them only where no other nightshades (including tomatoes and eggplant) have been grown for 3 years.
Here's a raised bed, deeply dug, and dusted with a generous handful of bone meal:

The seed potatoes are stuck into the trench with the sprouts up, than backfilled with about half the soil-- the rest will be hilled up from the sides as the plants grow-- here they are just before backfilling:

Yes, I can buy potatoes easily, but the fingerlings and blues I grow are expensive, and  the russets and Yukon Golds are largely trouble free and very productive. And I love the treasure hunt of digging them up in the fall!

Here's a basket full of last year's harvest: