growing potatoes
According to Inner Pickle I planted potatoes around mid May. I really need a garden journal that is a tad more specific. Note to self.
Anyway, something's been shredding my vines.
Thoughts seem to be it might be a ten spotted ladybird (of which there is no sign) or caterpillars (of which there are also no sign.)
As I am a very curious gardener and have never grown spuds before, I dug up one vine today, one that had been decimated and that I assumed would not have produced tubers, and in that gorgeous loamy soil I found these:
POTATOES!
It's just like magic. You plant an old sprouted spud out of the pantry in the ground. Hill up the soil around the vines when they come up and then voila, a bunch of potatoes grow.
That is the COOLEST thing. I'm so proud.
And just like that, you can feed a family.
Of, er, very very tiny not-hungry elves.
xxx
Ngo Family Farm
August 4, 2012 at 2:23 amPotatoes are my all-time favorite thing to harvest. So satisfying! What are you planning to make with your beautiful little bounty?
-Jaime
Eileen
August 4, 2012 at 4:32 amPotatoes are super rewarding to grow! I have a sweet potato sprouting in my pantry right now–clearly it’s time to whack it in the ground and wait for a late fall harvest. 🙂
innerpickle
August 4, 2012 at 6:27 amI boiled them (they’re TINY!!) for about 4 minutes, rolled them in butter, and everyone got one on the side of their lunch plate yesterday.
innerpickle
August 4, 2012 at 6:27 amCan you grow sweet potato the same way?! I’m in!
knutty knitter
August 4, 2012 at 9:39 amThose holes – could be earwigs. They chew up a lot of my veg round here 🙁
Potatoes are lovely fresh from the ground 🙂
viv in nz
Penny Hannah
August 4, 2012 at 5:32 pmProbably the most rewarding vegetable to grow – who cares what goes on above ground, it’s what is underneath that counts!
Kathy
August 4, 2012 at 11:58 pmWe (my 8 and 6 year old and myself) are growing them this year as well and can’t wait until we can eat them. Isn’t gardening wonderful. Regards Kathy, Brisbane, Australia
Mrs Homespun
August 5, 2012 at 5:59 amLove it! I’m off to get Mr Homespun to build me a potato frame thingey so I can get growing!!!
Andrea
August 5, 2012 at 6:02 amWe have grown some potatoes this year in a flowerpot (no more space left in any proper beds in the garden). Put in two and should have left more space “upwards” as the pot was soon too full to hill up any more. We just dug them up yesterday because the vines had withered (even though my mother said they should have bloomed first… which nobody noticed). So we expected to find nothing… but, we had a record harvest of thirteen potatoes!! Hurrah! The kids were so excited digging around in the pot and finding another one… and another one! We also had lovely carrots, some peas, strawberries, and are expecting a real bumper crop of tomatoes (more than thirteen, indeed!). Thanks Fiona for all your inspiration, my mother said she never thought she’s see me with a spade… well, it’s never too late to start!
Andrea (and please say Hi to your visiting sister from me!)
Darren (Green Change)
August 7, 2012 at 11:08 amPotatoes are so much fun for the kids to harvest. And so tasty, eaten on the day they were pulled!
Do give sweet potatoes a go – we’ve got lots of them rambling around our gardens as ground covers. Super easy, set-and-forget type plant. They’re even perennial in our frost-free climate, so all you have to do is harvest them!
Shellye
August 7, 2012 at 6:36 pmI love homegrown spuds!!!
I stuck mine in the dirt to loosen the soil (I read it somewhere) and then taaadaaaah! I was rewarded well for my lack of effort!
And of course, you can never really find them all in the soil so the rewarding just keeps on going and going and going. I haven’t planted a potato in two years yet they still keep popping up.
🙂