The Complete Book of Potatoes: What Every Grower and Gardener Needs to Know
Once viewed in Europe as an unpromising curiosity from remote highlands in South America, the potato (Solanum tuberosum) eventually became a staple food in Europe and North America, and today is the world's third largest food crop after rice and wheat. Much of the potato's global success is due to its great adaptability to widely differing, even harsh, growing environments.
In this informative account of the best potatoes for North American gardens, three scholars share their expertise in growing potatoes. Writing for gardeners, farmers, and hobbyists, the authors provide practical as well as technical information about the potato plant, its origin, conventional and organic production techniques, pest management, and storage practices. They also touch on the potato's versatility in food and nonfood uses, and the cultural relationships that have developed between potatoes and people. The plant profiles include still-life photographs of the exterior and interior of the tuber, and a succinct description of each variety's physical and culinary qualities.
From the common round and oval white potato to russets, fingerlings, and tubers with yellow, red, blue, or purple flesh, The Complete Potato Grower's Guide has everything the potato grower needs to know to be successful in the garden.
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 260 pp.
- Book dimensions: 7⅝ x 9½ in. (240 x 195 mm.)
- Images: 191 color photos, 14 b/w illustrations, 1 map
- ISBN-10: 0881929999
- ISBN-13: 9780881929997
- Product code: 682999
Media reviews
"Of particular interest to North American home gardeners."
—Book News
About the authors
Hielke De Jong
Hielke de Jong spent most of his career as a potato breeder at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Potato Research Centre in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He is a fellow of the Agricultural Institute of Canada, an honorary life member of the Potato Association of America and an honorary professor of the Hunan Agricultural University in China.
Joseph B. Sieczka
Joe began his professional career as an extension agent in Steuben County in the southern tier of New York in 1964. He joined the staff of the Department of Vegetable Crops at Cornell University in 1968 where he had responsibility for the extension and applied research program for horticultural aspects of potato production. He has co-authored two editions of the Potato Association of America handbook, Commercial Potato Production In North America.
Walter De Jong
Walter grew up in eastern Canada. Although surrounded by potatoes and potato people throughout his childhood, Walter only realized midway through graduate school that he wanted to become a potato scientist like his father. Walter is an associate professor at Cornell University, where he oversees both an applied potato breeding program and a potato molecular genetics laboratory.
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