Hi Stirblue,
My hubby Steve loves red potatoes more than me, but we use them and russets, in various and different ways: salads, stews, made mashed potatoes, made also cubed, then fried w/butter and parsley, sometimes w/garlic and onions..we have saved sprouted reds and russets and tossed them into the ground and they've come up big enough size to harvest..
Steve has quite a garden in the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter here in Sacramento..during the year, he plants different varieties of sweet peppers, hot peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, zucchinis, lettuce, potted varieties of parseley, chives, volunteer oregano, green scallions, also cantloupes, Asian watermelons..we also have a nectarine tree and a plum tree that has about 4 grafted varieties of plums, also a pomelo, grapefruit, lemon, blueberry bush, potted strawberries..but when we have too hot or to cold here in Sacto, the plants will suffer..but it's getting warmer again, so we'll be starting anew..