Serve Up Some Spuds!

I've been off for a few days enjoying a much needed break from work. It's always so relaxing to have a few days to catch up on all the little things that seem to accumulate.

Over the weekend I planted my first crop of potatoes (at least I'm hoping they'll be a crop in early fall). I've never grown potatoes before but was inspired by all the creative ways in which people grow them. From using unusual containers such recycled tires and new garbage bins filled with soil to traditional trenches and potato boxes --there seems to be as many different ways to grow spuds as there are varieties of this delicious food staple.

As a kid I remember sprouting a sweet potato suspended by toothpicks in a glass half filled with water. Of course back then we never actually grew a potato but we sure ended up with a pretty vine that to a young child was magical.



Since I knew I wanted more than just a cool looking vine I decided to do a little potato growing research by searching the Internet. To my amazement my best chances of producing a harvest started with certified potato seeds. The picture on a web site of a potato seed looked suspiciously similar to a plain old potato that I could buy a supermarket.

(These aren't potato seeds but they look just this.)


"Now why on earth would I want to spend money for something that I already have in my kitchen?" I thought to myself. "Especially since there's a few in there sprouting," I pondered. Well after reading further the potato growing web guru informed me that supermarket potatoes are usually sprayed with a sprouting retardant so even those that show signs of sending out a shoot or two probably won't turn into a viable crop. Buying organic potatoes may yield a harvest when planted since these aren't sprayed, but potato seeds with good strong eyes on them would increase my odds of getting a harvest. And... since I'm not the gambling type I was finally convinced - potato seeds I would get.

Knowing that I needed to order potato seeds was only half the battle. The endless varieties of potatoes seemed mind blowing to me. I used to think there were only about 4 different types of potatoes - russet Idaho baking, white Maine, Yukon gold, and red. Well I quickly found out I was was in serious need of an education since the many choices available made my head spin. Thankfully due to the late date in which I was placing my order most varieties were sold out so I didn't have to think to hard - Phew! I finally settled "Gold Rush."

Here's the description from the online catalogue:

Released in 1992 from North Dakota, Gold Rush is a welcome addition to the russet repertoire. Attractive oblong-to-long tubers with smooth russeted skin and extremely white flesh are especially delicious for baking and fries. Mid-season maturity, high yields, resistance to hollow heart, common scab, verticillium wilt, and drought have made this variety popular. Large vigorous upright vine has light lavender flowers.

Well sounds good to me -sold! I ordered 3 lbs (yield is supposed to be 10 lbs for each pound planted) from Gurney's Seeds and within a few days a tiny little bag of potatoes arrived at my door.

The instruction slip that came with my order told me to cut the potatoes into smaller pieces ensuring that at least 2 good eyes were on each piece. Cutting the seeds into pieces would give me more plants instead of planting each one whole. After cutting I placed the potatoes on several layers of newspapers to dry out for a few days until the cut side dried over into a nice wound.

Here's what they look after drying for a few days.

A closer look.

A little closer.



Finally here they are placed on the bed and spaced out - ready for planting. I dug holes about 3-5 inches down and dropped the potatoes in there. Covered each one with soil and then prayed.



Sprouts should emerge in about two weeks. When the stems are about 8 inches high, I'll hill the vines up with soil leaving about half of the vine exposed. Hilling puts the root system deeper where the soil is cooler while the just scraped-up soil creates a light fluffy medium for the tubers to develop into. All tubers will form between the seed piece and the surface of the soil. Another hilling will be needed in another 2-3 weeks and yet another as well, 2 weeks after the second. On subsequent hilling, I'll add only an inch or two of soil to the hill, making sure there is enough soil atop the forming potatoes that they don't push out of the hill and get exposed to light (or they'll turn green).

As I wait for my tubers to sprout, I decided to pull up a recipe I like. This one is for potato pancakes. It's a versatile side dish that you can serve with brunch, dinner, or as part of a vegetarian meal. For added flavor top with sour cream, apple sauce, cranberry sauce, or maple syrup (for breakfast).



Ingredients

2 eggs
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 medium potatoes, peeled and shredded
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Mix in potatoes and onion.



2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. In batches, drop heaping tablespoonfuls of the potato mixture into the skillet. Press to flatten. Cook about 3 minutes on each side, until browned and crisp. Drain on paper towels.

Fertilizer Friday

It's Fertilizer Friday! Yippee the weekend is almost here! Please join me and our host Tootsie over at Tootsie Time and enjoy all the wonderful blooms and lush greenary.

I gave my clematis a bit more fertilizer and I've been spraying it with Safer Fungicide. It seems to be recovering from whatever fungus it had. It dropped a ton of leaves, but is holding its own. I don't think it's as serious as wilt so I'm keeping my fingers crossed since it's still budding.

This lemon-lime colored dead nettle is one of my all time favorites in the shade garden. It doesn't produce much in the way of flowers except these little delicate purple buds, but I love the impact of the color in the dark shaded areas.

My iris is still blooming. Here are two different kinds. I wish I knew what variety they are but I don't since I inherited them.





Here's another unknown flower. It does well in part shade and its leaves reminds me of phlox but its flowers look more like bachelor buttons. If anyone knows what this is please tell me.

A pretty purple-pink spray of garden plhox.

Hardy geranium is so lovely in my cottage garden. Nothing seems to bother it and it blooms almost until frost. Love this plant!

I only have 3 roses and all of them are a problem for me. They are not disease or pest resistant, and I don't know the species since I inherited them. I have to really struggle to keep them going but one of the plants produces the most beautiful yellow blooms. I spray with all kinds of things and rose slugs just seem to get to it every year before I do. BT and spinosad works for the rose slugs but it's usually too late by then and the foliage is a mess. Inspite of everything I still have these lovely bursts of color, which makes me reluctant to pull it up.

I went out in the rain yesterday and staked up the peonies. It's not my best staking job but everything is up off the ground. Yeah!!! This plant is over 4 feet high and 4 1/2 feet wide. I'll get some more wide shots hopefully this weekend when the sun is out and more is in bloom.


Here are close ups of several different peonies I have around the garden beds.

Happy Friday everyone!!!

On Garden Patrol

Ellie's all time favorite activity is patrolling the garden for varmits. It doesn't seem to matter what kind of varmit -- basically she'll chase anything with 4 legs (for that matter anything with 2 legs, a beak, and wings she will chase too!).

Ellie has a few places in the garden where she is sure to get in some good hunting. Under our deck, in the crevices between the rock wall, and near the firewood pile are apparently hot spots of small creature activity.

The area near our side shade garden is of particular fondness for her. I look at it and to me it's just a nice lush patch of green, but to her it's party central.



Right near this garden is big oak tree that both squirrels and chipmunks climb up. They dig in the garden and then make a beeline for safety in the tree. So I guess logistically it's perfect for them (I'm trying to think like a varmit I guess).

There seems to be one particular squirrel that isn't afraid of Ellie and instead usually makes chirping noises at her. He sees Ellie, runs half way up the tree just out of reach of Ellie and then taunts her.

See him here. He stayed in this position for quite some time - yelling at Ellie in squirrel speak and waving his little paws around.

Can't say I blame him because right below him was this.


Yup -- that's my devilish little terrier doing what she does best.

Peonies and a Potpourri Post

I dream about peonies in bloom all winter long. It's my favorite flower and their spring time bloom ushers in the summer season for me. I've got 4 nice sized plants that the previous owner of the house planted. I don't know what variety they are but one has double blooms and flops over much more than the others without staking.

The week or so in which the peonies are in bloom is a big deal for me. I anxiously await their arrival, take pictures, and cut a bunch to decorate my home and give away to friends. The show they put on is fabulous and far too short.

I've tried all methods of staking with some methods working better than others. The peony hoops are basically useless for the plants I have since they are far too small and the plants far too large. The best method has been staking using individual bamboo sticks. The sticks I buy are dyed green and barely noticeable, but since I have so many stalks it takes a lot of sticks and lot of time to set up.

This spring I've been really busy and never got a chance to stake up the plants. I was going to do it this week after work, but then the rain hit and I came home to this tonight after work.



What you see above is my front island bed. You can click to enlarge the photo but the peony is over towards the right side. With all the rain we've been having the entire plant is face first into the ground. The blooms are just about bursting and haven't fully opened, but will in the next few days.

Here's another view of the bed. There's two peonies in this bed (and two in another bed near the veggie garden). There's one near the tree and the other is over on the right.



Here's a closer look.... sigh....



I'd go out and stake them but it's pouring and was only able to take this photo during a brief break in the rain. I wait all year for the show and it looks like if it doesn't stop raining the chipmunks will have a better show than I.

After being so disheartened by the flopped over peonies I walked into my kitchen and saw this out the window!





I was so excited since it's the first one of the season that I've seen at our feeder. I put the feeder out every year and its right outside my kitchen window along with two other feeders that are there on the deck. I'm horrible at getting pictures of any birds so the shear fact that I even got this shot is amazing. It's a bit blurry and it's taken through a window while it's raining, but I'm thrilled I even got a few pictures at all.

Here's a wider shot of my kitchen windows and where the feeders are.



I love standing at this counter because the birds come up to feeder while I'm there preparing a meal or having a sip of coffee. To the left of the photo you can see my orchid in full bloom. I bought it last year at the Boston Flower show and didn't think it would bloom again but it did! I've surrounded this window with twinkle lights. I put them up last Christmas and loved the way they looked so I never took them down. Such simple things make me happy.



Finally for this potpourri post is a picture of Ellie with her summer haircut.



She got a bit more clipped than I would have liked, but her little peanut head is adorable. Her ears look even more like Gizmo from the Gremlins movie now that she has less fur. Actually I think she's a bit annoyed that she got a haircut... just look at the expression she's making.


See the resemblance....