A January trot through the garden department at Walmart - headed to the
birdseed section - had little to excite a gardener expecting pots of pretty flowers.
Much too early, much too cold.
This splash of greenery was heart warming.
I've not grown potatoes and onions since helping mother in our English garden
after WWII when everyone seemed to tend a 'Victory Garden'.
I do recall digging up new potatoes and how tasty they were.
I have a raised bed sitting idle, perhaps I should have Bob dig it over, refresh
the soil and plant something to add to the bubbling soup pot.
Do you grow potatoes and/or onions?
.png)
I'm so impressed that people are even thinking about gardening. But I know we should. Particularly as Mrs Britain seems keen to enter an open garden event locally. Shock! Horror! I really should do a risk assessment... We are considering growing some vegetables in a small plot behind some old (redundant) privies at the bottom of the garden. Can't wait.
ReplyDeleteI have grown onions and leeks but not potatoes. I am looking forward to planting my veggie garden this spring...
ReplyDeleteI grew potatoes in very large plastic pots last year. They were very easy to manage and did well.
ReplyDeleteHow fantastic is that B. I have several very large pots waiting in the wings - perhaps I'll head back (as much as I dislike going into Walmart) and buy seed potatoes, one bag of red and one of Yukon Gold. Funny thing is, older I get more I love potatoes, and I recall it was the same with my mum. Sadly, they get bad press regarding not being part of a healthy diet - fiddlesticks, mum lived to make 91, and was a heavy smoker, so I don't think her favorites, plain boiled with a bit of butter, or roasted to crunchy perfection along with the Sunday roast and parsnips, did her much harm!!!
DeleteHope all is well - hugs Mary
Hi Mary,
ReplyDeleteWhat a huge selection of bulbs, plants and other useful things for the garden they have at Walmart. I have grown potatoes and onions for about three/four years. I was really happy with the result, but decided on a cutting garden in the end. I can recommend the 'Vitelotte noir'. It's a beautiful and delicious little black/purple potato. Perfect for a summer salad!
Have a good weekend!
Madelief x
How nice to see all the garden seeds etc. in the store already. We planted onions last year and got a good crop. I still have a few in the cold room that we're enjoying. We didn't plant potatoes as it's cheaper to buy them than to worry about potato beetles and rot. Our garden won't be as big this year. We just had too many weeds to contend with! :) Another blizzard is sweeping through our province today. It's a bit boring here. Ha! I'd love to get outside but it's not nice out there. Hugs. Pam
ReplyDeleteIt was like spring here last week, with my thoughts turning to gardening. Today ~ another story! It is a bleak and cold winter day with rain. Gardening?????
ReplyDeleteThis post struck a chord with me today, Mary. Brett & I visited Walmart for birdseed this afternoon and I poked around in the garden area as he was standing in the checkout line. I selected a few packets of lettuce seed as it won't be too long until we can plant it and I'm anxious to get back to gardening.
ReplyDeleteI so enjoyed your memories of Victory Gardening with your dear Mother. I get my love of gardening from my mom and always feel close to her when in the garden.
I have never planted potatoes or onions as my raised bed garden is quite small. If you do decide to plant them I hope you will share your experience with us.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Hope Bob is feeling better now.
Trader Joe's the other day had little pots of one and two bulbs, forcing. So for little $$, I have tulips and a hyacinth starting to bloom indoors. Figure that'll hold me for a few weeks.
ReplyDeleteOhhh I have some hyacinths coming up in pots on the deck - never thought of bringing them indoors - I am going out right now to get a couple pots of them - oh fun!!!!
DeleteIt is way too early here also - but so tempting. They say that 75% of all plants, seeds and bulbs that are purchased never get into the ground. I try to resist getting too many plants - my deck is not huge and I can't garden in the ground - or the deer eat everything. But I do grow some potatoes in a big deep pot - there is just nothing like the taste of freshly dug new potatoes.
ReplyDeleteDear Mary, I am so delighted to read that you will try growing vegetables. Onions are very easy to grow...they make you look good. Just remember to give them lots of sunshine and plenty (yes lots) of water. We grow Idaho Russets and Yukon potatoes. I can never decide which I like best. And of course, you must try a few rows of carrots. Then there is the finest little summer squash called Rolly Polly. It grows on a tidy plant and squash can be harvested when golf ball size and even good when larger. But most of all, have fun, vegetables are not nearly as difficult as some flowers.
ReplyDeleteMary, I would never grow potatoes, as much as I love to eat them. When I was a teenager, my stepdad and his brother started a potato-growing operation. We kids HAD to pick the potatoes, at 10 cents a burlap bagful. Dirt in my toes, under my fingernails, up my nose, in my hair, in my teeth. Oh how I hated it. I did like picking the potato bugs tho, and drowning them in kerosene.
ReplyDeleteHi Mary...I love the idea of growing onions and potatoes. Vietnam may not the the right place but hopefully, one day, at Tahilla Farm. The Irish in me loves stew...big pots of it in a thick sauce. I seem to be the only one in my family who feels the love, so you can see, I really do appreciate the idea of growing potatoes and onions! On another note, thank you for stopping by and I do hope you are well. Just want you to know I am thinking of you.. xx
ReplyDeleteI've never grown potatoes or onions -- the most adventurous that I've been is simply growing peppers and herbs! This weather is certainly calling for pots of soup, though. I'm making a pot of roasted butternut squash soup today that we'll have for dinner this evening with some crusty bread... I can't wait! xx
ReplyDeleteWe grow lots of potatoes here in the Salt Lake Valley. In our backyard we have 8 raised planter beds, and one is given over entirely to potatoes and half of another to onions. They are both grown from starts obtained at local farm supply stores, which seem to have more robust stock than the local stores or even the nurseries. Growing one's own food is so gratifying - and delicious!!
ReplyDeleteOh yes! Gardening always makes my heart go pitter-patter! :-) I get that from my Dad...every spring I start planting things! Only now I am having so many issues with my back, and my chronic fatigue, I can do very little. And my hubby is disabled, so he can't help out. Plus, the cost of watering twice a day in the desert and of having so many plants not make it in the searing heat. I have yet to grow a single decent tomato since we moved here. It's sad. :-) Oh, well, I can enjoy everyone else's gardens on the blogs this year. Enjoyed this bit of spring joy on your blog today!
ReplyDeleteWow, they are pushing the spring season way too early. But it is cheerful to see those displays when you walk through the store! I gave up on vegetable gardening after we moved to the smaller home and MUCH smaller lot. I grow a few herbs in pots each year to use for cooking.
ReplyDeleteWe do sometimes grow a small amount of potatoes and onions in our little garden plot.
ReplyDeleteYummm!
Those are two things I've never tried planting! Maybe I will get brave and try something new this year in my garden.
ReplyDelete