Follow
Share
Read More
Whine away! Does a body good! Sometimes :-)
(1)
Report

The sweet potato sat there long enough to grow straight up. It grew about 18 inches tall, but no roots.
Then I put a piece of cut potato in a jar, some water, and it grew roots. Took them outside on the porch.

Two of the jars have leaves, one jar does have roots but it looks also like moldy, and the cloudy water smells.

Should I plant them in dirt now? And throw away the moldy sweet potato?

I feel obligated to continue this growing stuff, but will it end with new potatoes?

I could adopt them out.
(0)
Report

Yes plant your slips now Send!
(1)
Report

The reluctant gardener here.....

100 pounds of sweet potatoes from slips of one potato!
That's a lot of pressure.

Videos said to change water every two or three days.
I have already failed.

However, this should be fun, right?
These suckers are growing by themselves.

There are so many so-called slips, I could have a 5 ft. x 5 ft. garden.
Planting in the morning, or very soon into available square planters.

Thanks Cwillie, I will do that!
(1)
Report

send - if you grow 100 lbs of sweet potatoes from your slips , I'll fly down and eat them with you!!! Once having been away for on holiday, I came back to a "jungle" of potato shoots in my corner cupboard, I think I grew a few for house plants.

My gardening these days is confined to the balcony and my indoor plants which are adjusting well. I am growing oat seeds in an old roasting pan to give Rocky some greens. Despite tenting saran wrap over the pan to keep the moisture in, the seeds have not germinated as well as I would like. However I did get some green blades growing and put them down for her and she munched the lot and pulled up a few. But she likes it and goes out for a taste daily except yesterday which was too hot for her.

We also have an elm tree seedling growing in a decorated watering can, With temps here in the 90s I'm watering the oat grass and the elm seedling daily. It will need to get planted out at the lake this fall.
(2)
Report

I've been reading about people getting amazing yields for decades but those YouTube farmers/gardeners are not fooling me, most of them are all talk and very little evidence to back it up. I have never had much luck with container grown potatoes of either type, I consider myself successful if I get one or two meals for my efforts.
(3)
Report

🌱🌿☘️
(0)
Report

🍅 🍅 🍅
(0)
Report

🪲🪲🐛🐛
(1)
Report

🌻🌻🌻
(1)
Report

Never enough yield :-O How do these off-grid folks do it? to have year round food.
(1)
Report

Oldagenot, oh I hear you, I have friends that do it. Give us a lot of there left overs 🙂

I don't think people understand how much time and effort and brains it takes.

Every September I buy 100 ears of corn , cut them and freeze them. Just ran out last years storage.

That is about all I can handle.

We just love are local farm corn. Even that feels overwhelming.
(1)
Report

It's all about having prime soil fertility and a large acreage. Plus even the off grid folks will still trade amongst themselves - I've got a bumper crop of potatoes and you have a plum tree, let's make a deal - and shop for things they can't grow themselves.

Of course the things that yield the best and are easiest to grow are usually the things that are dirt cheap to buy in season.
(3)
Report

cwillie & Anxietynacy. Thank you! love your responses. Agreed trading is good as is the storage. I've seen many videos on storage of fresh produce. I love the mason jar in hot water technique, someday I can envisage a ladder full of stuff, hopefully homegrown ;-) but yeah, it seems like a lot of work and all year round.

I think if you can make several batches of various items by doing the canning storage maybe get ahead by a year worth of food, then it might start getting a little downhill from there? because you make a batch, eat a batch, and keep that cycle going. Living off-grid must be the best feeling in the world? ok maybe second best feeling in the world.. :)
(1)
Report

Oldagenot, I was slowly getting into all that, leaning things like making candles, soap , canning, loved it , it was fun.

Was handy when covid happened I was pretty stocked up.

Then Mom got old 😆 and that all went out the window. .
(2)
Report

Anxietynacy, lovely isn't it when we plan things in life and we have to put things on halt. Maybe at some point you'll start again. If not the those projects, news ones :) Definitely with you on the caregiving and having to change priorities, change course. I'm counting on many paths to nirvana :)
(0)
Report

Oldageisnotfun, yeah I'm sure I will find some projects similar.

I did force myself to learn knitting last year, made a scarf at least . 😆

I tried to keep up with that stuff, but it just made more depressed or angry, not being able to find time .

And that wasn't worth it.
(0)
Report

I came of age in the 70's so I already went through my earth mother, back to the land phase of life. Plus my parents were rural depression babies so saving, doing it yourself, reusing and preserving is a familiar part of my heritage.
(3)
Report

I'm just finding my earth mother phase
(1)
Report

Funny, just got a large bag of spinach, for a thanks, for fixing a rototiller. Put 5 servings in the freezer . One for dinner
(2)
Report

Freezing a bunch of veggies today, are farmer friends keep dropping off.

I'm hoping for no more cucumbers I might have to make pickles.
(2)
Report

I got enough spinach in my freezer, now working on corn, so far 15 servings for winter. Actually didn't think I'd get sick of corn. But I am.
Helped mom with a bit of corn for her freezer yesterday

After this it will be my "tomatos"
(0)
Report

I have a big beautiful, vase of zinnias I grew from seed on my table. 😁
(3)
Report

My poor blighted tomato plant has taken on a new life and is producing green shoots with flowers, I may still get something out of it before the frost hits.
(3)
Report

Right now garden is not therapy it's just way to much dog gone work..

Farmer friends dropped us off more stuff for me to freeze. 😕
(0)
Report

nacy - zinnias are lovely colours. I hear you about too much produce.

cw -can you bring the plant indoors? Flowers mean fruit!

Rocky's new grass seeds germinate well so she is regularly munching on the new growth. I germinted some catalpa seeds R picked up in his travels. We
ll see if the tree grows here. Got an acorn planted too. I am growing a sweet potato in a pot. Not sure if I will just keep it for the leaves or try to get some tubers from it. That will need a much bigger pot.
(1)
Report

🇺🇸
The Sweet potatoes did have nice leaves.
I donated the plants to a neighbor, without guilt.

This all started when a sweet potato sprouted and I let it grow, all by itself.
(1)
Report

No one I know around me grows sweet potatoes, maybe they don't grow well here.
(1)
Report

send - I understand. They do make a pretty plant.

nacy - apparently they can be grown indoors in a deep pot with lots of light. I'm not sure it would be worth trying. I gather outdoors they need a warm climate.
(2)
Report

A gopher has taken up residence in the middle section of my driveway. 🐹
His name is Howard. He is light brown, digging his hole at noon.

We met face-to-face. My first thought, automatic, was to run water in all the holes to force him out. Recalling that my Dad, a tree surgeon used to stand there with a sharp pole to kill the gophers as they exited. Nah, that's not me.

This gopher will be protected under the "live and let live" standard. Even though he is a "rodent". I read that they eat insects. There are also piles of dirt made from red ants, and they are disappearing.

Nature is so fun to watch.
(2)
Report

Start a Discussion
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter