Tag Archives: potatoes

1st harvest 2017 & potato bucket update

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I’m happy to finally have our first harvest. I pulled some green onions and cut some chard. It was fun and I wish I had more veggies ready to harvest.

I cut some sweet basil. I forgot to get a photo of the cut basil, but here’s one of it still on the plant.

I put the chard in the refrigerator for future use. I used the onions and fresh cut sweet basil in Bruschetta. Then I made some Bruschetta toasties for supper. The toasties was really good and a nice something different. I had quite a bit of Bruschetta leftover for later.

One of the potato plants has broken the soil. It looks like a wee green rose nestled down in the potato bucket. I had trouble getting a good photo, but I wanted to post it anyway. Perhaps this wee green rose is the start of a bucket full of potatoes. I hope I hope.It looks as if our little garden is off to a good start. Hopefully we’ll get more harvest and maybe even have some produce to store for winter.

Happy gardening!

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5-7-2017 Potato Experiment day 1

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5-7-2017 Potato Experiment day 1
I found a couple of small potatoes in my potato bin that had sprouted a bit. I considered putting them in the edge of the woods for the critters. Since there were only 2, I decided to try something that I wanted to try for years; growing potato plants in a bucket.According to what I’ve read, if you plant a potato in a container that you can add soil or straw around the plant as it grows taller, it might produce a bucket of potatoes. I’m using store bought garden soil because that’s what I have on hand.

These particular potatoes are regular yellow eating potatoes. I’m not sure how well they’ll grow in the buckets, but I think it may be interesting to try. (plus it’ll give me something else to blog about. 😉 )

I’m using a couple of old 5 gallon buckets that I used in years past as planters on the porch. They have holes in the bottom for drainage. I put about 5 inches of garden soil in the bottom.

I cut the part that sprouted off the potatoes.I then placed the potato pieces in the soil.I covered them with about an inch of soil. I gave each bucket about 4 cups of water.

Now I wait.
I’ll post an update if a potato plant starts growing.

Have you ever grew potatoes by a method like this?
If so, did the potatoes grow and produce very well?

I hope you all have a lovely day!

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Broken Apple

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10-24-2016-appletater1I’m one of those folks who believes that apples help keep potatoes from sprouting too quickly. The other day I opened my potato bin to get out some potatoes and was a bit surprised when I saw that the apple had burst open. I picked it up expecting it to be mushy or soft, but it was firmer than a fresh apple and had dried out in the open wound.10-24-2016-appletater2I don’t know what variety it was. We’d bought the apples at a small grocery store and didn’t keep the bag.
I tossed out the broken apple and put a new apple in the bin. I hope it doesn’t burst open too.

10-24-2016-appletater3Over the years, I’ve kept different varieties of apples with my potatoes. They last a long time, after a few weeks I toss them next to the woods for whatever critter may want them. This strange apple bursting open is a first for me. I can’t figure out what happened to it. I think it’s just so odd. :/

I hope your day is a good one.

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Potato Soup

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IMG_72250Here lately, the weather has been dreary and cool. The gray drear is somewhat of a downer, but I’m not complaining about the cool temps, they’re a nice break from the hot muggy dog days of Summer. Sadly, the days are much shorter. I miss the longer afternoons/evenings of enjoying the sun. A few of the trees are starting to loose some leaves. There’s definitely a feel of Fall all around us.

I told my husband, this is the type of weather just right for a comforting bowl of potato soup. My husband heartily agreed. Happily, I made a pot of potato soup. I used some of our homegrown potatoes and onions. I made a pone of my southern cornbread. It was a mighty-tasty meal, even if I do say so myself.

With my Fall moodiness, I thought it’d be a good time to share my favorite potato soup recipe with you.
If you give this soup a try, let me know how you like it.

I hope the rest of your week goes super.

chef-2
3-spcbg

Potato Soup

2 or 3 cups potatoes peeled and cut into 3/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
2  or 3 cups chicken broth
1 cup of water – if needed add water to cover the potatoes in liquid
1 cup milk
About 1/2 cup instant potatoes
Salt and pepper or your choice of herbs to taste – optional
1/2 cup chopped onion or garlic – optional
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Cook the potatoes, onions, salt and pepper in the chicken broth and water.
When potatoes are tender add the instant potatoes & milk.
If too thick add more milk. If it’s too thin add more instant potatoes.
Cook it about 15 minutes more.
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added thoughts:
*After the soup is done, turn the stove on lowest temperature setting and let the pot of soup simmer for a little while to let the seasoning/potatoes blend better. Check it often in case it needs more milk or to be removed from burner.
*enhancements: Add bacon bits, sour-cream, cheese or cornbread
*I realize this recipe reads pretty bland, but I make my own broth, therefore it’s already seasoned with herbs and gives a good taste to the potato soup without my having to add more seasonings.

Original Recipe by my BFF

picgifs-cooking-166988spgrnbgln

Mostly Corny Post

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IMG_5029We had sort of a corny weekend with gardening. We harvested a lot of produce.
My husband harvested all the potatoes and onions over a 2 day period. He had to stop the first evening because after we harvested the corn and squash, he started digging potatoes as the sun was setting.IMG_5078Some of the potatoes are huge.IMG_5196IMG_5118The onions are drying on a table on the back-porch, and the potatoes are drying on garbage bags in my craft room.
My craft room is fast becoming a food-cellar. lolIMG_5152It may not look like a lot of potatoes, but it’s more than plenty for us. After the potatoes dry a couple weeks or more we’ll put them in mesh bags and stack them somewhere…  and then I’ll have my floor back. lol
But I fear my craft table is going to be full quite awhile before I can use it again. So, for now, I’ll use the dining room table for sewing and stuff.

My BFF knew we harvested some corn, so she sent me a link to a video on how to cook and shuck corn using the microwave. She wanted me to try it and see if it would work.
How to cook and shuck corn with the microwave
I was super surprised that yes indeed it does work just like the video says. It took only 4 minutes and there was no silks on the cooked ear of corn. I like that. Here’s a photo of my using the microwave cooking & shucking method. IMG_5105
My husband harvested all the mature ears of corn. We’re not planning on harvesting the rest of the corn when it matures. We’re going leave it for the deer, racoons and other wildlife.
IMG_5005IMG_5135We used the normal method of shucking to prepare our corn for freezing. We’re happy we had about a bushel of corn. We put up 26 bags of corn-off-the-cob.
we used this method:
How to freeze corn – pickyourown.org

Here’s of photo montage of our corny process that we did.

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Click on this photo to see a bigger photo

I put up 4 bags of corn-on-the-cob for our Grandson when he comes to visit.
I used the same method for freezing except I left the corn-on-the-cob. I wrapped the ears individually in cling wrap, put a few ears in a gallon Ziploc vacuum sealer bag, sealed it and put it in the freezer. By wrapping them individually, they won’t be stuck together and I can take out the amount I need to cook.IMG_5186
And so it goes in our neck of the woods. We’ve been busy busy busy.

I hope you all had a good weekend.
Have a super week!
gardeningcouple
spgrnbgln