My First Potato / July 2010

Last year was the first year to experiment with growing  a garden in raised bed structures.  One of the hot topics on #gardenchat / Twitter was planting potatoes.  With a little help from my friends online I was educated about how easy it was to grow all types of potatoes.   After a successful season of growing my own Irish and Idaho spuds I must say it was super easy and as exciting as a surprise party!  When I googled for information about planting potatoes I didn’t find one mention of how rustic and rich with flavor those spuds would be. The flavor in some of my family recipes were just amazing and I can’t wait to try more dishes and ways of preserving potatoes this year.

My girlfriend Rhonda stopped over the other day while I was attempting to plant potatoes again this year.   I had some questions about planting the entire potato rather then cutting them in pieces and if I could reuse the potatoes that were  coming up from last years harvest.   It was a split vote when I asked on the social networks if I should leave those old potatoes in the raised bed to grow this year so I took all I could find out and planted them in a corner of the raised bed.      Rhonda shared some tips with me on what her Father had taught her about growing potatoes and you can read that information by clicking on the image above.

More information about my soil by clicking on the image collage above

An important tip is to be sure that you plant your potatoes eye UP and use loose soil in your container or structure you are planting the spuds in.   Last year we had a blast harvesting these potatoes finding more potatoes then I ever imagined could come from one location!

The greenhouse and landscape project is coming together quit nicely this spring.  It is on our to-do list to get the left side of the landscape filled with another split rail fence featuring a trellis.    I hope to have that in by early June.   My hubby and I celebrate our 18th Wedding Anniversary this next weekend maybe I can some how tie that into our special day?!

Last Night on #gardenchat we welcomed Katie and Justin from Better Homes & Garden.  I got to meet Justin in person this past March on my trip to Costa Farms for the Social Summit in Miami.  I had a blast talking with him about his garden projects, the greenhouse / garden center he owns and operates in Iowa and all the fun things going on at Better Homes  & Garden.    IF you missed last night #gardenchat which was all about the latest plants for 2011, the transcript is located at#gardenchat transcript web page.   Sometime today Better Homes & Garden will be announcing a winner from last nights #gardenchat.  I can’t wait to see who will win the fabulous book collection  featuring : Garden Doctor: Advice from the Experts,Yard & Garden Projects, Better Homes and Gardens New Garden Book,  Gardening Made Easy,Yard & Garden Owner’s Manual I will share more when the winner is announced.

WOULD LOVE TO HEAR from you if you clicked over to this link : share a comment or suggestion below!

It’s a way of living I grew up with that some where between college and having kids I put on the back burner.   I’m talking about using what is in your home pantry  and not planning the meal around making a trip to the grocery store.

It can be a challenge for your creative side when  living within your means.  Open the veggie box in your refrigerator and imagine the endless flavors you can create.

Tonight a jar of stewed tomatoes was used with carrots, onion, mushrooms, fresh herbs cooked slowly to create a pasta sauce. My kids usually moan ” spaghetti  again” because I’m a huge fan of tomato base sauces and any variety of noodle.   A few greenhouse tomatoes that were close to over ripe were diced and roasted in my favorite cast iron skillet.   Tonight was meatless but sausage or even a sliced pepperoni could make it a meaty sauce.   And who doesn’t have a loaf of bread on hand?  Tonight we used garlic fresh garlic and butter to toast up a wonderful Italian loaf to go with the pasta dish.

Last week I was challenged by a blog entry at Michael Nolan website.  In this article he shares how he and his partner are creating new dishes each day in their kitchen.  My thought was why not use what you only have on hand to  create these new menu plans each day.   Not to mention it is a great way to be economical.   In my home, at worst you would have jam and bread because I have a pantry full of homemade preserves from this past summer harvest and we always have flour that can be used to make bread.

Michael was one of our fabulous guest host on #gardenchat and was kind enough to giveaway a copy of his book ” I Garden : Urban Style” to Jan of Thanks for Today who just so happens to be doing a fun Eco-Friendly giveaway on her site.  I invite you to click over and enter her fabulous giveaways that include many fun things that can help you grow naturally.  I’m loving the rain barrel Jan is giving away in this contest.

Happy Weekend Everyone – I hope you will share a dish that you can always count on in your home!

I put together a quick video to show you how you can make your own Holiday hanging baskets.  All you will need is a few left-overs from the Summer garden and a big red bow that I demonstrated how to make earlier this week.

Holiday Hanging Basket - A few supplies left overs from the Summer garden are used to make these Festive additions for your home.

I’m a big fan of my red tools by Corona Tools.  Please stop by their new website and check out the new products they are carrying for 2011.

Recently The Community Garden  Toledo Grows won a Corona Cares Grant.  Thank you to everyone who stop by the Corona Tools website and voted for Toledo Grows.  I look forward to sharing the tools being put to good use in their garden next spring!

Handmade Holiday Red Bows dress up the landscape and the Winter Garden.

Check out my BGgardenLive channel on Youtube.com

Easy and inexpensive – make your own red holiday bows.

These bows are super easy to make and over a dozen large bows will cost you around .50cents each.  You will need to get a 50 feet spool of red velvet ribbon and some burlap twine to make these creations for your garden.  In the video above I share with you easy steps on how to put these bows together.  Please contact me if you have any questions.

Happy Holidays from my Midwest Garden – Bren