The three varieties in Simplot’s Innate Gen 2 lineup are, from left to right, Burbank, Atlantic and Ranger.

Acreage low, stewardship high for GE potatoes

This year’s Canadian acreage of J.R. Simplot’s genetically engineered Innate potato will be “very small” to non-existent, according to a company spokesperson. Kerwin Bradley, director of commercial innovation for Simplot, says the company’s marketing strategy for new varieties is based on customer polls and identification of marketing channels. “We don’t plant potatoes, or give seed […] Read more

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

In honour of my Irish grandmother here’s a traditional potato recipe

Since St. Patrick’s Day is nigh upon us, I dedicate today’s musings to my grandmother, Josephine O’Hara. Or, as I knew her best, Grandma Jo. Grandma Jo was proud of her Irish heritage. So proud, that dinner on St. Patrick’s Day was akin to Christmas or Easter. In other words, a feast. There would be […] Read more


In recent years, late blight has been a common issue among a lot of home tomato growers. Mountain Merit has good resistance to multiple diseases including high tolerance to late blight. Compact determinate plants produce a concentrated set of medium-size red tomatoes mid-season during a harvest window of four to five weeks.

Start thinking about potatoes and tomatoes this month

Singing Gardener: March is the time to sprout spuds and start seeds

March is a good month to begin sprouting potatoes and starting tomatoes. Also, will be sharing Part 1 of excerpts from two pages of a handwritten letter. Top that off with where to buy late blight-resistant tomato seeds. There’s a song that says, “I need attention bad.” Did I get yours? Thank you folks for […] Read more

Shown are unnamed and ready-to-be-washed sweet potato tubers freshly harvested in the field along with segments of vines and even some flowers.

More potato and tomato information

Singing Gardener: Plus, a bit about Jerusalem artichokes

Hey there — hello gardeners and welcome farmers. Are you striving to become more self-sufficient with what you grow in the garden? Tubers of the vine and tomatoes get some attention today with some focus placed on storage tomatoes. Add to that a source for rooted short-season sweet potato slips from an adventurous grower and […] Read more


Swiss Rosti (see recipe at bottom).

The mysterious potato

Once thought of as toxic, it's now the most consumed vegetable in North America

One summer day I was picking potato bugs in my little patch of community garden when a young mother came along with a babe in a stroller and another on the way. She asked what I was doing and a conversation ensued: Her: “Where do you get the potatoes?” Me: “I got these potatoes from […] Read more

Manitoba Outstanding Young Farmer nominees, Jason and Laura Kehler and their children Paisley, five and Wyatt, two.

Outstanding Young Farmers Manitoba: Jason and Laura Kehler

A willingness to experiment brings success for Jason and Laura Kehler

Jason and Laura Kehler aren’t afraid to face new challenges and adopt innovative ideas, and that’s helped them earn the title of Manitoba’s 2016 Outstanding Young Farmers (OYF). They grow four varieties of processing potatoes, seed soybeans, corn, canola, wheat, oats, soybeans and edible beans on the 5,600 acres near Carman that makes up Kehler […] Read more


Ted inspects developing strawberries growing in partial shade under floating row cover. Read below about the tarnished plant bug and how to avoid cat-faced strawberries.

More information on potatoes

Singing Gardener: Plus, some tips on strawberries

We can all identify with how time flies. The longest day or summer solstice for this year is now long gone. Little by little, daylight is sneaking away and shall continue to do so until just before next Christmas when we have our shortest day. Speaking of “sneaking,” let me put a question to you. […] Read more

Pink rot fungicide resistance spreading

Phosphites offer a strong alternative control option for potato growers

In Prince Edward Island, potato growers may soon lose the use of metalaxyl, a key fungicide registered for use against Phytophthora erythroseptica, the pathogen responsible for pink rot. According to the results of a national survey, 50 per cent of isolates studied in Ontario and Eastern Canada are resistant to Ridomil, a single-site mode of […] Read more


Watch for wireworms in potatoes

Watch for wireworms in potatoes

If wireworm is not on Prairie potato growers' radar yet, it will be in the near future

According to Bob Vernon, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Agassiz, B.C., since the organophochlorine pesticide Lindane was banned in Canada in 2004, followed by the organophosphate insecticide Thimet last year, populations of wireworm have been slowing in some areas and “booming” in others. Vernon was in Brandon, Man., to present a […] Read more

Ornamental German thistles hover over an overflowing box of firm and meaty, unblemished Big Beef slicing tomatoes, while impatiens, patiently complete this command performance of colour and contrast with their touch of mystic rosy pink.

Ted talks tomatoes and shares reader tips

Singing Gardener: Plus, info on green potatoes and inoculant for legumes

Heard from a Calgarian whose email leads me to a phone visit with her mother at Coronation, Alta. The daughter writes in part: “The Flin Flon is of interest to her to replace a tomato that she can no longer acquire. She’d love to hear from you.” In mid-February, yours truly heard from the supplier Tanya Stefanec of Heritage […] Read more