Planting Red Seed Potatoes

It's time to plant seed potatoes again in Zone 9 which includes north east Florida where I live.  Let's say that the winter is over, long gone, only a too recent memory.  In general, potatoes do well in sunny and well drained areas with warm days and cool nights.

Red Seed Potatoes

I've got five pounds (about 2.5 kilos) of white potatoes ad five pounds of red potatoes.  Both are the generic kind--no names.  I don't have a choice but to buy whatever is available at nursery and garden stores.

After cutting up the red potatoes before planting, I placed the pieces on a baking sheet and put them in a cool and airy room to rest, dry, and heal for a coupe of days.  This will somewhat prevent the potato pieces from rotting after planting.

While the potatoes were resting, I was busy making a furrow for planting the seed potatoes 4 inches deep, 8 inches apart and 36 inches between rows, give and take an inch here and there. The potatoes are planted with the cut surface down.

I covered the furrows with a thin layer of pine mulch and then planted the potatoes, covered them up with another thin layer of mulch along with a common commercial garden fertilizer such as 10-10-10, and finally covered the potatoes with soil.  (I made a row and a half,)

Red Seed Potatoes cut and resting

I believe that it is a good idea not to put fertilizer directly on the potatoes to prevent from burns.  Again, fertilize the shoots when they are about 6 - 8 inches tall. The shoots should start showing within 2 - 3 weeks after planting.

This is also a good time to start hilling up the potato shoots to give them more room to grow and to prevent direct sunshine that will make them green and toxic.

It may take 80 - 115 days from planting to harvest.  To test maturity, dig up a sample and if the skin does not come off too easy when rubbed, the potatoes are ready for harvesting.

Sources:  Me and the Garden Help in The Florida Times Union

Happy Gardening!

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Oregon Sugar Pods or Sweet Peas

I am planting Oregon Sweet Peas or Sugar Pods in Northern Florida and I don't know how to explain or justify that to myself.  In the first place, you sow/plant whatever is available in the various seed stores.  Second; it may have something to do with the climate.  The sweet peas do like cooler weather but not necessarily freezing cold.

I sowed Sweet Peas earlier this year and only one seedling came up!  The seeds were fresh; however, the weather may not have been the best for sowing:  it was too dry; too chilly, and then it was right cold.

So, my husband and I went down town to Standard Feed and bought a package of their Oregon Sweet Peas or Oregon Sweet Peas, enough for two 8-foot rows planted very close together so that they can use the same trellis.

The soil was soft and easy to make two row about 3 inches deep and I "evenly" distributed my seeds, covered them up, and patted them down with the garden rake.  As they come up, I will continue to hill soil round them  Eventually, I will also fertilize them with a common garden/vegetable fertilizer such as 10-10-10.


Once the peas are beginning to mature, I love picking the pea pods and eating them right there.  My serving of fresh vegetables.

I strongly recommend harvesting the peas before they do get too full.  I usually blanch my peas, chill 'em in running cold water, bag and label them for the freezer.

Some gardeners like to presoak seeds overnight to speed up germination.  It is difficult to say how long it will take for the peas to germinate.  It depends on the warmth of the sun, the temperature of the soil, and the all important watering.

A guesstimate for germination is 8 days and 120 days to maturity.  Peas are usually ready for harvest 3 weeks after flowers appear.

Happy Gardening!

Thank you for visiting my blog.

To Do List for January 2018

A gardener's work is never done.  Every time I go out to the Back Forty, I moan and groan looking at the work that is grabbing my attention.  As soon as it gets warmer, I will grab the hoe fork, the rake, the shovel, and ,,,,

Here is my To Do list for January 2018 that is going by rather fast:

1.  For starters, this is a good time to transplant trees, bushes, and plants only to prune diseased or dead material.  Do not fertilize at this time; however, watering is of utmost importance--moist, but not soaking wet.

2. Use horticultural oil spray for citrus and woody ornamental trees/bushes, if scale problems exist. Follow label directions.

3. Do prune roses and remove leaves on the ground and strip leaves from plant (unless green) to reduce disease problems.

4. This is also the time to plant seeds indoors or in a green house for March plantings of peppers and tomatoes.  It takes four to five weeks to grow small transplants.

5. Water lawns, if necessary.  In my zone 9 area, 3/4 of an inch every 10 to 14 days should suffice.

6.  It is never too early to start raking leaves and pine needles to add to the compost pile.

Keep warm.

Keep Green.

Thank you for visiting.

Haricot Verts aka Green Beans

The other day it was Herbes de Provence and today it is Haricots Verts which is a fancy French word for thin green beans.  Some time ago I sowed too old green beans too late in the season.  Yes, the plants grew and bloomed but the beans looked pitiful.  The freeze took care of the vines and that was the end of the beans.  So I thought.



I was out in the garden this morning and to my amazement found almost too large beans and too frozen.  I picked them and cut them up for cooking.  Would it make any difference to the beans if they were frozen in or outside the freezer?

I thought that I would take extra care to treat this surprise.  I salted the water in a large pot and let it come to a boil and then gently transferred the beans from a bowl to the pot.

While the beans were boiling gently, I fried bacon to season the beans,  thinly diced a bit of red onion, made zest from a lemon and mixed them together to add to the beans after they finished cooking and were plated

The large green beans turned out very well and we will enjoy eating them for many a days next week.

We will be ready to start planting green beans in March (zone 9) for a bountiful harvest in about 2 months later.

Keep it Green!

Keep warm!

Thank you for visiting.

Herbes de Provence at my Back Forty

It was a clear and sunny day with no clouds in the sky but the freeze was predicted for the evening.  We had covered up the one and only plant and lit a couple of lights under the tarp.  The greens, the broccoli, and the cabbage will do fine and perhaps acquiring a sweeter taste with the nip of frost.

I ventured out to snip most of the aromatic herbs from the garden by the very cold summer kitchen.  I made a bouquet or two of Herbes de Provence and hang them up to dry.  The dried Herbes de Provence is typical of the south east region of France.  Don't worry, I haven't gone too fancy--I can't even pronounce the name.

I made a small bouquet of parsley that I have plenty of and rosemary, tarragon or marjoram (can't tell the difference between these two), sage, wispy dill, and sweet basil from a pot in the kitchen.  I hung this little bouquet up to dry above the stove.

I chopped and minced the rest of stems and leaves of the common but sweet smelling herbs, added fennel seeds and put them on a cake plate to dry in the warm oven.

I found out that dried herbs keep their flavor when cooking whereas fresh herbs lose their flavor after 20 minutes of cooking.  A dried bouquet of Herbes de Provence in a pot of stew will look good and it is easy to remove.  I've got to get out of the kitchen.

Keep warm!
Go Green!

Start planning your spring garden

Thank you for visiting.

Pickled Greens

I must give The Chef and The Farmer credit for showing on her PBS program the use of stems of the broccoli, collards, and the mustard greens by removing the thick ribs from the greenery and cutting the stems up into bite size pieces and pickling them.

It's good timing because I am out of water melon rind pickles and I don't like eating the cooked greens without pickles.  Hm!  I am also just about out of jars--I have to get out of the kitchen!


At dawn's early light, I headed out to the garden and picked collard cabbage greens as well as a handful of mustard greens to add to the broccoli stems I cut up yesterday.  I still find it easier to blanch the greenery, let 'em cool under running water, bag and label, and put the bag(s) into the freezer.

To prepare the broccoli stems for pickling, I cut off most of the outer layer of the stems and cut them into pieces and set them aside while I prepared the brine.

Brine:  Bring  the following to a boil:  1 cup of water, 2 cups of apple cider vinegar, 2 tbs sea salt or Kosher salt, garlic cloves, and finely diced red onions.  I even added an orange Bell pepper for color.

Spice and Herbs:  About six garlic cloves, sliced or smashed, 2 tbs mustard seeds, 1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, and a couple of whole Bay leaves.  How about a few pepper corns too?  I added a few sprigs of dill from my herb garden too.  What else?  Try fresh cut up pine apple pieces!

Direction:  When the brine has come to a boil, add the vegetable stems and the spice/herbs.  Let it boil/simmer for about 5 minutes and then remove from the heat, put a lid on the pot, and let the goodies steep. Fill jars with the stems (and fresh cut up pine apple), pour the hot/warn brine over the stems and put the screw tops on.  Hold on now!

Water Bath: To be sure that the pickles will last over the winter and long into the spring, play it is safe by giving the jars with the vegetables in it a water bath.  I use my large stockpot filled with water about an inch over the jar tops.  I usually put a small cloth on the bottom to keep the jars from rattling.  I let it simmer for about 10 minutes and cool in the pot.

Pickling the greenery:  I never thought about pickling the greenery but why not.  After the stems have been removed, roll up the collard cabbage like a big fat cigar and thinly slice.  Cook the greens for about 5 minutes.  Drain.  Put in jars and give them a bath.

Go Green!

A Gardeners Work is Never Done.

Thank you for visiting.  Come again.