How did your potatoes grow this year? In my garden Norland have always grown the best while white potatoes don’t seem to do as well or produce as much. Must be my soil.
There is now a new red potato that would be fun to try. It was released by the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station.
The name is Skarlagen. It means scarlet in Norwegian and Danish. The name describes the deep red color of this potato but is also a tribute to the heritage of many of the farmers in North Dakota and Minnesota who grow potatoes.
Some of the comments about this new variety include:
Has smaller tubers than Red LaSota but more per plant so yields are competitive. It has better skin color than Red Norland. It is less susceptible to silver scurf, a fungal disease that appears at the end of the tubers and can worsen in storage. Silver scurf can cause the stored potatoes to dehydrate which makes them more susceptible to bruising. It has snowy white flesh that is good for mashing. The round variety is smooth with shallow eyes — making it easier to peel.
Sounds like a great potato to try next spring. Potato farmers and research trials have been growing it since 2017 after evaluations from 2013-2025. It was officially released in February of 2025.
You probably have been using your summer squash for quite some time now. It’s soon time to keep a watch on your winter squash. You need to pick it before a hard freeze. A light frost that kills the vine will usually not harm the fruit.
Cut the fruit from the vine, leaving a few inches of stem attached. Be careful not to cut or bruise the fruit.
After cutting pumpkins and squash from the vines, you should field-cure them in place for a week or two in dry, sunny weather. This method will dry and toughen the skin for longer storage.
If the weather has turned cold or rainy, you can cure squash indoors in a warm (80 degrees Fahrenheit), well-ventilated space.
Squashes and pumpkins used as autumn decorations are vulnerable to cold, wet weather, so they can easily spoil. Monitor the condition of the fruits and discard them when they start to show signs of rot, as they can quickly become a foul-smelling mess. Remember to treat them gently.
Winter squash should be stored in a cool but not cold place, ideally around 55 degrees Fahrenheit, with good air movement. Relative humidity between 50 and 75 percent is best.
If appropriate storage is not available, you can preserve pumpkins and squash by drying slices in a dehydrator, freezing mashed squash or canning cubes in a pressure canner.
Watermelons should be left on the vine until they are fully ripe. Signs of ripeness include:
The spot where the fruit touches the ground becomes more prominent and changes color (typically yellow). The tendril closest to the fruit becomes brown and dries up. Ripe melons have a hollow, dull sound. The sheen of the rind tends to change slightly with maturity, but this is variety dependent.
Watermelons do not produce ethylene, but they are sensitive to it and should not be stored with ethylene-producing crops like tomatoes, bananas, apples, or cantaloupe in order to extend the shelf life.
Master Gardener Sue Morris has been writing a column since 1991 for Kandiyohi County newspapers. Morris has been certified through the University of Minnesota as a gardening and horticulture expert since 1983. She lives in Kandiyohi County.
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