If I could grow only one vegetable...

What I grow in my garden is limited only by my organizational skills (or lack thereof), by my energy level (or lack thereof), and by my gardening knowledge (or lack thereof). This season, I have grown kale, tomatoes, okra, peppers, herbs, asparagus, strawberries, onions, garlic, zucchini, cucumbers, squash, peas, and potatoes. I can expand the list next year, or cull it, or change it all together.

But what if I could only grow one vegetable? What if I were limited – for some strange reason – to only one? Which would I chose?

Hands down, it would have to be potatoes. Not because I like them the most (I don't). Not because they store for months (they do). Not because I can use them in any number of recipes....

I'd pick them because they are a blast to dig up.

There is nothing like pulling back a few inches of straw and feeling around in the moist crumbly soil to find one, or two, or six round red or yellow potatoes. It is a total thrill. A bit like an Easter egg hunt – made even better when you have a couple of young helpers like I had last month when cousins Julia and Nathan came out to Farm Dover with their Grandma Glenda.

The potatoes we harvested that day have now cured on the back porch to toughen up their skins. 

I've packed them into a string market bag and hung them from a nail in our cool basement. We will enjoy them from now until the new year, and everytime I cook with them I'll remember the day that Julia and Nathan came to visit and the fun we had hunting for them.

Just so you know, the day wasn't all work and no play.