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No, not the guy with the orange hair. Although he can be a bit creepy. What I’m referring to is actual tops of carrots, the greens. They are toxic. Who knew? When you thin carrots out they look so cute. Well, it turns out they are cute AND toxic. This article from the NY Times delves into this and some other toxins lurking amongst our vegetables. The bottom line: Just because you are growing it doesn’t mean you can eat it. Food for thought. 
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Do you know the difference between Sweet Potatoes and Yams? They are both edible tubers; otherwise, they have very little in common.
Just a little educational minutae to throw into the mix when that certain family member starts to steer the topic at the dinner table into those toxic zones of religion, politics or philosophy! Happy Thanksgiving! Read on…..
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So, the potatoes I ordered finally arrived. I’m not sure what I was expecting but they look like….well, potatoes. It was a little anticlimatic when I opened the box, because I spent about $35.00 for this little pile, which I was happy to do, but I think I’m just having a problem with having spent $35 on potatoes that look just like what I can buy at the grocery for a fraction of the cost. Having said that, I know that these potatoes, known as seed potatoes, are much less likely to be problematic because they are typically grown in a controlled environment, keeping them disease free.
Don't cook these for dinner!
I’ll give these little, expensive, starchy jewels a shot to see how they perform, but I’m curious to see how these and my supermarket crop will compare.
Here is some other useful info that came with my seed potatoes:
* Sprouting your seeds is called “greening” or “chitting.” Potatoes don’t have to be sprouting to be planted, but it does speed up the growing process and you tend to get a higher yield.
* During warmer weather, you can sprout your potatoes by spreading them out in moderate light and mild temps (60-70 degrees) for a couple of weeks to induce sprouting.
* During colder weather (now) you can sprout potatoes by placing them in a paper bag in a warm room (70 degrees) with apples, bananas or onions, which give off ethylene gas. This induces sprouting.
* If you don’t want to plant right away, put your potatoes in a paper bag and refrigerate for up to 4 weeks, then follow the chitting directions for warmer weather above.
* Expect your crop to be ready in about 50-60 days, maybe a little longer in cooler weather.
* Subsequent tubers from your original seed potatoes can develop disease, especially if you are reusing your soil so good practice is, if you are growing in containers, to replace the soil you grow your potatoes in after each planting. If you are planting in the ground, then rotate your potatoes out for 3 years. I don’t know about you, but crop rotation is a bit tricky in my smallish yard so I’ll stick to container potato growing.
Here is an informative video from You-Tube if you’ve got 9+ minutes to kill. (It’s amazing what I find when I do a search on Google!!!)
Okay, enough with the potatoes today. More to come when I plant. In the meantime, “chitting” is in order….
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Faithful reader, Jessica, started her seeds last week and now that they are beginning to sprout, she wants some guidance on how to proceed, so here goes…. Make sure your seedlings stay moist. If they dry out you’ll lose them, or weaken them significantly. When you plant a seed, the first leaves to emerge are [...]
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All hail the mighty potato! I had my first crop of potatoes (July 17 post) and it’s time to plant more so why not on National Potato Day. What is National Potato Day, you ask? I went to Google to see what I could find but didn’t find an answer to that question. What I [...]
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This pumpkin has taken on a life of its own and decided to spread up instead of out. The tendrils have a tight grip on the branches as the vine has climbed and this pumpkin pup is about 6 inches across and growing everyday. I’m going to have to do some creative supporting up in [...]
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I want hair like this.
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What a beautiful sight! No, not me. THE POTATOES!!! (Can you tell the humidity is high? Look at that hair!) My first crop!!! Back in March I found two red potatoes sprouting eyes in the pantry so I tossed them in an old green recycle container I had in the yard and piled on some [...]
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I was working in the front yard a couple of weeks ago when a couple on bikes stopped to look at the garden. The woman asked me, “Are you selling trellises?” which was a reasonable question because the garden is a mish-mash of bamboo poles, redwood, wrought iron and various other sticks and rods I’ve [...]
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I found this the other day when I was web surfing and I thought it was a helpful. One of the problems I have is figuring out how much I can plant in a bed but this link provides a tool that is a good guide for vegetables in a raised bed. I laid out [...]
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Read this interesting article and check out the pictures in this Los Angeles Times about No-Dig Gardening. It’s an interesting concept that I’d like to try. It would be an interesting way to create raised beds in a less expensive way than building boxes and when you are done you could throw the mess into [...]
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