Eating More Potatoes

Two blogs in two days! This is unheard of...

... but last night I cooked more of my home grown Potatoes and it is such a pleasure to do this, fresh and tasty food from your own garden, that blogging about this element of growing food is almost my favourite (close behind that moment when the seedling first pokes its head through the soil and you know something is growing....).

I didn't even finish my Potato harvest last night so you may well have another one of these to look forward to soon :)

I chose to eat the scabby Potato last night; this is caused apparently by the fact that I have grown these in potting compost which is too rich for Potatoes.

After a few seconds of scraping with a knife the Potato is ready for chopping...

My choice today was to slice the Potatoes really thinly.

Waste not want not; I saved the oil and butter fat from the day before and, with the addition of plenty of black pepper, I roasted my Potato slices as you can see here, sizzling nicely.

On a whim I threw a few slices of Chorizo into the baking tray to add some flavour to the end result.

Pork Belly Slices frying away - still pink so not ready for eating yet.

And here is my dinner - and it was VERY tasty, the highlight being the Potatoes obviously.

So there you are; I still have a fair few tatties left over and may bake a couple of them over the weekend.

There are still other bits and pieces of progress going on; the Ghost Chili is STILL putting flowers out though I think I won't get much more out of it.

The Begonia is flowering really nicely; every week or two I think "that is it, it is over" and then in the morning another lovely bloom.

A couple more Begonia blooms; lovely.

So there you are; I probably won't make it three blogs in three days but you never know.

Cheers

Nearly a Potato disaster plus other progress

When I woke up this morning (hang on, you could start a song like that!) I looked out my window and saw a dreadful sight...

I said when I woke up this morning.....

OK OK I'll stop.

Anyway, something (wind / cat / whatever) had knocked over one of the potato bags and it was spread EVERYWHERE all over the floor :(

I have now picked it up (and another one which fell over during the day) and propped them up; fingers crossed they will now stay upstanding.

While photographing this sad state of affairs I have also gone round and taken some progress pictures. So, without any more delays (or singing, you'll be glad to know) here are the pictures:

The fallen over Potato plant. Sadly a couple of the stalks have snapped but I am hopeful it will recover. I was going to just leave it like this, but when I saw the second one had gone too, I've moved them against a wall with stuff in front to hopefully prop them up. We shall see.

The Carrots are still growing, though I did have to throw a slug away which was about to start munching through the leaves.

The Parsnips are also cracking on very well indeed. Certainly I have not managed the crop I hoped for from either these or the Carrots but at least I'll get some.

The Broccoli are still thriving, though it was only when I edited this picture down that I noticed the slug sitting middle bottom of the picture about to get very fat at my expense!

The Onions are starting to go red at their base which is really good because they are Red Onions. Hopefully this means they are starting to develop bulbs under the earth.

The Foxglove is still developing and is definitely established.

From left to right, the Mint, and two Geranium plants, one smaller but with the rings and the other growing massive but with no rings.

Moving inside, this tangle of plant is actually the two Moneymaker Tomato plants. I still only have two fruit developing on both plants, it seems I'm not getting enough flies in this house to fertilise the flowers.

Both the Gardeners Delight Tomato plants are also now growing well, particularly this one which also has flowers on it.

The surviving Ghost Chilli. Still tiny, but at least starting to put new growth on now. Maybe I'll just get some very late fruits, or maybe it won't fruit at all. Crossing my fingers here....

The Crossley Special Chillis are putting out massive amounts of fruit, as you can see from this picture. I have not counted them yet but my guess is about 60 fruits across the six plants.

This is one HUGE Begonia flower, it is on the end of a really long stem and is dangling right down; it looks ungainly but it is beautiful indeed.

Another Begonia plant with many flowers on it. I really do hope these are transportable.

So anyway, that is all the pictures I took this time round; I'm sure I'll be back sooner or later with more, and maybe the first eating from the garden too.

Keep growing, keep reading.

Cheers

Earthing up Potatoes plus flowers and outside progress

As mentioned in my last blog post the Potatoes have grown really well and had actually started falling over out of the bags...

I have today got round to filling the remainder of each bag up with compost and standing them up a bit prouder:

The falling down Potatoes. One thing I really do wish I had done is make the wooden Potato planter idea which I have linked to elsewhere and, when I get a chance, will look up the link and put it here. They have grown so well it would have been nice to have been able to care for them a little more as these little bags really are NOT big enough at all.

This is one of the Potato plants (not sure which variety) which has been lifted and supported better by the addition of more soil around it. Hopefully this will also fill with Potatoes.

Whilst I was outside I took a few progress pictures; this is the Foxglove which is looking like at least one of the plants has survived; it will not grow fast enough for me to see a result however I think I have learned a bit and will be planting many of these in my next garden.

This is the bed with the Coriander in it, with the shop bought one clear at the front, and the stringy seed grown plants looking wind blown, but if you look closely showing signs of green returning to them. I am confident these will now take and provide herbs next year.

This slightly blurry picture is the Chives which have definitely taken and will now probably go mad like the ones before at my old garden.

Finally for this brief update I have got flowers on my Begonias which are on my bedroom windowsill right next to my head as I sleep so I am now getting some nice whiffs off them (which makes a difference, in my bedroom I can tell you...)

This Begonia just has one flower on it but it is very pretty indeed.

This one is slightly larger and is covered in flowers. I hope that these will live for more than one year; it would be nice to have these every year.

Anyway, that's me for today.

Keep growing, keep reading

Chillis and Begonias amongst other things

Wow it has actually been a long time since my last post (for me during a growing season, that is). I have many reasons and excuses but the one I'm going to deploy is that there wasn't much to show you and just continually posting nearly identical pictures might be boring you....

.... so anyway, I am posting because the progress is significant enough to show, even if I haven't actually done anything since the last post; this weather really is screwing with my planting schedules. I haven't even put the potatoes out yet!

However, as I have said, there is progress for you and I will not delay any more.

The Mint plant is a little smaller than it was last time you saw; this is because Sassy the rabbit got out and onto the window sill and ate half of it! It is still alive and is slowly getting back to growing again.

The Crossley Special Chillis are particularly enjoying being right in the front window which gets lots of sunlight and stays nice and warm through the day.

The two Ghost Chillis are fully established and, while they aren't growing upwards, they are looking very healthy and established with quite a good number of leaves.

By contrast the two Birdseye Chillis are not really established yet, both of them with only two first-leaves and still a bit spindly. I am keeping my eyes on these and checking them every day.

This is the Moneymaker Tomato which has now been on the floor twice (once my fault, once Sassy's) but as you can see it is still alive, still thriving and amazingly looks like it will become a healthy plant.

The other Moneymaker Tomato which is taller and more established than the one which has been on the floor twice, which is as you'd expect I suppose. Both of these plants are really proving the worth of the self-watering planters.

This is the first Carrot plant which has developed it's second leaf and this is now showing how a Carrot leaf looks; that very distinctive serrated edge.

The Parsnip box with several seedlings in it, though none are showing second leaves yet.

This is the smaller of the two Geranium seedlings and, as you can see, it has really started to get bigger and putting on more leaves. Very satisfying to see, and definitely one of my best successes so far this year.

This is the other big success of this year so far.... the single Globe Artichoke seedling which sprouted. It is now sat on a windowsill at the top of the stairs and is putting out it's third set of leaves.

The seed grown Coriander is sat on a front windowsill and gets so much sun I am having to water it twice a day, and every time I go to it the soil is dry again. The left most plant has slightly yellowed leaves but all the others are looking very healthy and happy.

This is the most exciting of the news I have for you in the blog, however. This is one of the Begonia tubers with a sprout showing. Three of the four other tubers have also got some sprouts showing. I am very pleased that these appear to be have settled in and are growing now.

The egg shells with the chitting Potatoes in them; it is too cold for me to plant these (and I have not done the threatened photo-diary of chitting progress you will be happy to hear) so they will stay like this for another week or so before the spring finally springs and I feel happy to put them outside.

Talking of going outside, I've got pictures of my early plantings and, really, evidence that planting so early really hasn't worked for me. Where I was hoping to get an early harvest, it does just look like they showed green and then stopped growing full stop. This is the Lettuce and you could  be forgiven for saying "what Lettuce I don't see anything?"

Even worse, though, is the Onion which is almost invisible among the mold and left-over hay from my aborted attempt to protect from the snow.

Last but not least the Broccoli are still looking the most established but are also struggling a touch to put on a growth spurt as the spring is delayed.

Anyway, there you have it; a much delayed progress report but as you can see anything in the mean time would not really have been that exciting.

Here's to spring arriving and me being able to actually do some more planting and try some more stuff out.

Cheers

Planting Begonia tubers

At the weekend another part of my huge seed/tuber order arrived so Sunday morning I decided to plant them out. The packet said "plant immediately" which put a bit of fear in my mind as to what would happen if I didn't.

I am not sure if, post growth, I will be able to re-harvest the tubers and take them with me to my full time homesteading destination (any advice welcome) but hey, if they will die if I don't plant them now I'm not going to put them in my seed-bank to take with me because that would just be a waste.

Anyway, following on from my so-recently learned lesson my first task was to bring in and warm up some compost.

The five three inch plant pots brought in and filled with compost and sat next to the radiator, alongside the Carrots and Parsnips and Geranium seedlings. This surely is final proof that yes, I do learn from my mistakes.

I have never bought tubers before and this is the bag which they came in; it was a very lightweight material and had lots of holes in it to keep the tubers dry and aerated.

This is a Begonia tuber. Yes, I know what it looks like but trust me; it is. I am holding it "hollow side up" which, apparently, is the way you plant them also.

The method of planting which the instruction leaflet said (yes, I know, I read the instructions... How can I ever look my dad in the eye again!) said to put it on the compost hollow side up, carefully push under the surface, and water thoroughly, making sure however to not let water pool in the hollow. So that is what I did...

... I didn't get any pictures of that part of the process so you will just have to trust me when I tell you that this is a picture of the previously shown pots, post compost warming, with a tuber in each one, carefully pushed in and watered without allowing water to collect, yes you guessed it, in the hollow on the tuber.

Bear in mind that I brought the compost in at about 8am on the Sunday morning and then did this planting at about 11pm so this gives an idea that you can decide to plant something in the morning, and have warm enough compost in the evening, so long as you have your heating on.

Finally a couple of pictures to show that the heating of the compost really does work. This is a picture of two Carrot seedlings still standing up strong and tall and not wilting in the slightest. The mildew appears to have reduced also, though the soil still has some moisture in it. This is, I think, a success so far.

The Geranium seedling is also still looking just as it did prior to re-potting, another successful move operation. I did accidentally scatter some compost on the leaves while moving it but I don't think it will stay on there for long when the plant continues to grow.


Anyway, there you are; some more plants ready to start obsessively watching for progress, and some more proof that yes, you really should be aware of the temperature of your compost when moving seedlings from propagator to medium pot.

Cheers