Category Archives: vegetables

A Big Pot of Potatoes!

I tried to plant potatoes in a raised bed a few years ago with  no success at all. My memory of the failure is that we thought that raccoons might have dug them up.  We found the seed potatoes scattered around the garden. Since it’s been a few years it seems like time to try again. I’m hoping that if we plant them in a container and keep them outside the back door, we’ll have greater success. So in the middle of all the rain yesterday my youngest kids and I did some potato planting!

 I sliced the potatoes in half early in the day. The owner of our local Agway recommended this when I bought them. Everything that I read said that drying the potatoes out for a few hours would help prevent rot.

Before we started we gathered up our materials:

  • the cut potatoes
  •  a bag of organic potting soil
  • A great pot that my Mother-in-Law painted for me (I love this, it’s so cute!)
  • A trowel
  • A kid, ready to dig!

We filled the bottom of the pot with broken up clay pots and rocks to help with drainage. Ideally, I would have put a layer of screening on top of this but I couldn’t find any and I knew that my husband was busy at a conference this afternoon. So, we skipped that step. I think it will be okay.

The kids added soil to the pot.. of course they loved this!

When the pot was half full it was time to add the potatoes. We placed them in with the sprouts facing up.

We added another two inches of soil and moved them outside, then we watered them in with rainwater that had fallen throughout the day.

And now we’ll watch them grow! We planted them halfway up the pot with the idea that as the potatoes form we’ll keep mounding the soil over them so that more can grow. I’m looking forward to seeing how this goes. We’ll keep you posted!

I can just hear them growing in there! I think the cats can too!

Some Clarification and Whats Growing this Week

Good Morning Everyone!!  It’s a perfect day in Salem!

I want to clarify my statement in yesterday’s post about peonies taking time and patience to grow. It’s not that peonies are a high need plant, once their settled and growing they will thrive without a lot of attention. I would love to have inherited some but I never have. I’ve only grown them from scratch in which case they can take a few years to get going… hence my comments about “time and patience”. I am very lucky these days because I can look over my fence and enjoy my neighbor’s very well established peony bed.

Here they are this morning, about to bloom!

When I asked for permission to take and post this photo  and explained what I was up to my friend  shared that she has divided these and experienced that lag time before the recently planted plants bloom again. I felt so much better hearing that. It’s not just me!!

Just to cover everything I feel obligated to emphasize that I have NO formal training in the fields of gardening or horticulture. Everything I say here is based on my personal experience, the reading I do and my general love (maybe “passion” is a better word) for gardens and gardening.  Michael, the kids and I just enjoy growing things together!  As you read remember that I’m learning right along with you!

Here’s a quick view of some things that we’re growing this week… taken yesterday (by me this time) on my daughter’s I-Pod. I want my camera back, but who would have ever thought that an I-Pod could take this many photos.. not the best quality, but I’m forging on anyway!

Here’s the view as I walked out the back door to take the photo at the top.. things are very green today.

off to my left, the Yellow and Siberian Iris are blooming, along with Soloman’s Seal.. this area needs to be weeded and the plants divided.

Down in the garden the foxglove are happy and that little eggplant in the foreground is settling in. I plant the eggplant because I think it looks cool in the garden.. I usually end up giving most of it away because we don’t love to eat it.

The zucchini looks happy too. i wonder if it will take over that  space between it and the lettuce? The lettuce will be bolting as it gets hot out, we could train something to grow in that direction..

A few cucumber and pepper plants are coming along.. I didn’t plant much cucumber because I had so much wilt last year… cucs either thrive or are frustrating. Last year was frustrating so I’m stepping back and buying them at the farmer’s market this year.

Here comes a row of bush beans. Their staggered but I may need to thin them out as they grow.

And I’m off to Agway to buy chicken food and mulch.. We’ll see what else I find to fill in a few gaps!

Thanks for visiting and enjoy your day!

Michele