My First Spuds! What a surprise!

Hi Lady! Potatoes are so easy I've been kicking myself for not trying them years ago! All they need is some rich garden soil. You can use potatoes you buy from the store. Just cut them up, making sure that there are at least two 'eyes' per section, give them a few hours or overnight to 'harden' (where the raw part dries over so it won't get diseased and rot) then stick them in the ground a few inches. Once they start to grow, you add garden soil (even dried grass clippings or hay works) around the stems and they'll produce new potatoes all along the stem. The more dirt (or whatever) you pile around them, the more potatoes you'll get. Some people use old tires to grow them in because they can add a tire to hold the dirt as you pile it up. Actually, you can use anything to pile around the stems, just so sunlight doesn't get to it because that's when the potatoes turn green and that part is poisonous. Keep the light away from them and they'll be fine. I'm using garden soil, just to make sure no light gets to the new potatoes. I don't have enough old tires to use that method and don't know where I could get more, so I just planted mine in the garden. I'm adding those garden "railroad ties" or whatever they're called, around my entire potato patch to keep the soil from washing away. I also read about growing potatoes in those 32 gallon plastic trash cans. Poke holes in the bottom and near the bottom for drainage, put a few inches of soil in them, then plant the potatoes. You can just add soil as needed, then just dump the whole thing over when it's harvest time. I'm thinking of trying that method next year. Other than that, there's nothing to it. I'm amazed at how easy they are to grow. I tried sweet potatoes for the first time last year but planted them a little too late and only got a few tiny sweet potatoes but, hey! It was my first attempt and I was so proud of those little potatoes! LOL I'm going to try the same thing with onions if I have some that start growing. Instead of throwing them out, I'll stick them in the ground. Just last week, I dug up a couple of onions that I had grown last year. Apparently, I missed them when I harvested them last year and they just kept growing! Some things are so easy and they make me feel really stupid for not doing them sooner. I've been gardening for about 40 years and never tried potatoes or onions until last year. So, if you try growing them yourself, enjoy it! They really are so easy!

Oh, lucky you! My first tomato plants didn't make it because of the rain but the ones I planted afterward are doing fine, but I only have a couple of really tiny tomatoes right now. I'm drooling for that first ripe tomato! Maybe next year I'll plant a couple of tomato plants in planters on our deck. They should survive if we have another rainy season next year. I'm always so anxious for that first ripe tomato! That dish your mom made sounds very yummy! Maybe I'll give it a try. I should have some tiny potatoes very soon because my second crop is doing really great. I've had peas and pearl onions but never with tiny potatoes... it really does sound good.

Oops! I forgot to answer your question lol. I have a huge potted plant of early girl tomatoes growing on my patio. I've picked 3 already, large ones, too, and another will be ready tomorrow. They are delicious!

Cool! Take pictures when you harvest them! I know all about rain, believe me! We got almost 8" of rain in May and over 5" so far this month. We were supposed to have a rain-free weekend, but it did rain some yesterday. One storm and a lot of drizzle off and on. I'd LOVE to see one entire week without rain. I'm so sick of it! Hopefully, your rain will end a little earlier than expected. I know what it does to gardening-lovers. I look outside the window and get so depressed when it's raining for days on end! It's funny, my mother grew up on a farm. They grew all kinds of vegetables, plus chickens. When I was growing up, the only thing my mother ever planted was tomato plants. Weird. We had grape vines, so she would make grape jelly every year, and also made stewed tomatoes each year that she would can to eat throughout the winter, especially for my father who adored stewed tomatoes and could make a meal out of a quart jar of them. But, my mother never grew anything besides tomatoes, although she did talk about all the veggies they grew on her farm. I was given the title "Keeper of the Garden" when I was about 10 years old. That's when the gardening bug really hit me, but mostly I grew flowers, well, and tomatoes. It wasn't until maybe 30 years ago when I became addicted to vegetable gardening and have tried new things each year. We moved here two years ago and this is the first place I've ever lived where I had enough room to grow everything I've ever wanted. I have a lot of fruit and nut trees growing now, although none have produced anything except for one peach tree and an almond tree. I have blueberries, blackberries and raspberries on my bushes right now, getting ripe. I've had to put netting over them to keep the birds from stealing them as soon as they ripen, though. I learned that the hard way last year. Also, I was waiting for my peaches to ripen this year and noticed that all but 3 have disappeared. I think a deer got to them. Living in the country sure does have it's drawbacks! Slowly, but surely, we're getting fencing around the area where I have all these things growing so, hopefully, next year, I'll be able to harvest a lot more fruit. Sorry... I got a little too caught up in my gardening frenzy here. I really ought to go out and make sure the geese aren't trying to steal the tiny pumpkins and cantalope I have growing. (They did last year.) It's supposed to rain again here tomorrow, so I guess I should do what I can today. Good luck with your garden and I hope you get some sunshine soon!

Great background story. Thanks, it reminded me of some good times as a kid. I tend to think of mostly bad things from my past but it's great to recall some positive ones. We bought a net for our strawberries as the birds do seem to like them as much as we do, they just don't clean up their plate when they are done and leave strawberry remains everywhere. Glad you have a place to grow now. :)

But they are so CUTE!! Maybe you can frame the picture, or dress them up in photo shop or something! Mr. Potato Head, eat your heart out!

Yes, I was really surprised when I found them. I thought for sure that everything had rotted away. Now, I've REALLY got the gardening bug for more potatoes. This is so cool! When potatoes I buy start to sprout before I use them this fall or winter, I'm going to toss them in a planter. I might not get big potatoes but I'll get more smaller ones! That's a lot better, in my opinion, than just tossing the potatoes in the trash. I saw what you wrote under the photo and, no, I won't name them. If I did that, I'd feel like a cannibal or something when I go to eat them. If I gave them names, I'd want to keep them as pets.

Thank you for that information about the tomatoes. I have a small yard, so I don't have tons of grass clippings, but I'll use what I can. I do have a portion of a bale of un-used straw leftover from winter (used to keep bunnies warm), so I can use that! Thank you!

That's great news, Annie! My second attempt at a garden is also doing well. I know that tomatoes get fussy sometimes and refuse to produce blossoms if they are too hot, too cold, too wet or too dry. They love rain, just not as much as we've been getting this season! My second attempt at tomatoes is doing well and have noticed buds on all of them and one TINY little tomato. As for the potatoes, if you cut your grass, you can save the clippings and, after they've dried out, pile that around your potatoes. It works! You can use hay, too. Apparently, potatoes don't really care what they grow in, just so there's something to hold them up and protect the new spuds from the sunlight. At least, this is what I read. I might experiment with that one of these days but I did read that in a gardening forum and on other sites about growing potatoes so there must be something to it. Good luck!

Wow, Chevee, they look gorgeous! You've done an excellent job from what I can see. I wish I could send this rain down your way, at least for a little while. We had a sunny Saturday, rainy Sunday, it's sunny today and rain is expected tomorrow. That's how it's been since Spring first arrived. Actually, a bit before Spring, actually. We had a bad drought here two years ago. It was my first year with a well and I was afraid the well would run dry because my plants needed water. I did bring buckets of water up from the lake, but they were too heavy for me and the climb back up to my garden was just too much so I didn't use too much lake water. One of these days, I should install a pump and hose so I could just pump the water up from the lake. Geez, now that I think of it, it's just not fair! We're having so much rain, plus I live on a lake and you're down there with no rain and no lake. We have too much, you don't have enough. I've always thought that either the Federal Government or each individual State Government should install a drainage system that connects with each connecting State where we'd be able to pump flood water to areas having droughts. It would save so much in the long run; not just for food, but human lives and properties! But, I'm just a littl peon and the government won't listen to me. But, your peppers look absolutely wonderful! I adore banana peppers and wish I could take a big old bite out of yours! LOL I had them growing last year, but this year's crop was killed by the rains so I gave up on them until next year. I just have habanero peppers growing right now.

Thanks you all just made my day.

Oh, that's wonderful, Ldy! I have yet to see a tomato on my plants. The first ones I planted were washed out by all the rain we've had, so I had to start over. My tomato plants now have blossoms so I'm hoping to see my first tiny green tomato very soon. I had plans this year for a massive garden, but the weather had other plans. Besides all the rain, we had an unusually cold Spring but things are finally beginning to take off now. I grew corn one year and it was the best-tasting corn ever! I'm convinced it's because corn starts to lose it's sugar content the second it's picked. Even corn in grocery stores that was just put out was picked at least days earlier, so when you pick the corn yourself and eat it right away, it's ultra-sweet and tasty! Geez, now I'm starting to drool! I wish I had corn growing! Maybe next year. I did just put cucumber seeds in the ground last week and hope to at least get a few of them before it gets too late in the season. Man! Lucky you! I can see you eating that first ripe tomato now. You just can't buy that taste in any store!