This was the first year I've grown potatoes in Texas. Growing up in Illinois, we'd always plant store bought potatoes that had started to sprout. Always got a good crop from those.

I've read the reason cited for avoiding planting store bought is they are sometimes sprayed with an anti-sprouting agent. I rarely get through a bag of potatoes before they start to sprout so maybe the use of anti-sprouting agents is uncommon.

I've not tried potatoes yet, but it's interesting that both of you had such luck with store bought potatoes. Now I need to try.

I'm still harvesting kale and Romaine, but they started to bolt in the last week. Spinach bolted a couple weeks ago. Zucchini and yellow squash are really starting to produce; I've had four or five of each so far. We had our first cucumber this weekend. Lots of tiny green tomatoes, but it'll be a while for them. Onions are getting really close.

Enjoy those new potatoes.

Michelle

I figure gardeners that can't tell when sprouts(eyes) are absent or present, wouldn't be very successful anyhow. You will figure this out in time but I'll throw it out so you can get an early start. Texas weather make's it a worthwhile gamble planting out a few plants 30 days earlier than normal date. Potatoes are one of those that can really benefit form the extra cool weather. BTW,welcome to Texas.

Michelle,if you haven't tried potatoes before,here's some tips that might get you off to a good start. Some soil types don't do well for potatoes so look into "potatoe towers". Even if you are planting in ground,knowing about towers will help with soil prep. New potatoes only hours from under the vine are kinda like home grown tomatoes,there's no supermarket equal. The reason behind this is because the instant a potato separate's from vine sugar begain's converting to starch.

I cut up my potatoes and dredged them in ash and was letting them sit for a few days ,.....and forgot all about them. Bad on me. No potato harvest for me. I have been harvesting Celtuce ( a chinese lettuce grown for the leaves and the stalk, so bolting is good) , Lettuce, chard, Kale,l arugula,chervil, snap peas, leeks. Most of them are now closing up shop now , BUT now I am getting tomatoes and green beans.

My neighbor who is not a gardener got green beans last Saturday. I was so excited for her! She was just glowing!

We get a lot of new potatoes from the compost heap. They are yummy! Started harvesting some cherry tomatoes this week. The Celebrity has big tomatoes that are completely green so far.