Friday, June 04, 2021

First Potatoes

In February this year we found a large potato in the vegetable drawer that had long sprouts on it so we placed it in a flowerpot of compost and left it in the greenhouse.

Earliier this week the potato plant was dying back and looking ready to be dealt with.

Would there be any potatoes in there?

 Yes, there were.

 They are now in the vegetable drawer ready for meals over the next few days.

Not long afterwards we collected some rhubarb for tea.  Lurking in amongst the leaves was the shoot of a Horse Chestnut tree so it was pulled out of the raised bed still with the conker at its base.  There is a Horse Chestnut tree at the top of the garden next door.

It was probably buried there last year by a squirrel.   We planted it in a large pot.

 I wonder if it will survive?  We'll see.

 Meanwhile, in the garden,  Peonies and yellow flag Iris have flowered.



Elsewhere in the garden other flowers are mostly pink and mauve.


All for now.  I hope you all have a good weekend.

26 comments:

  1. I have no doubt the horse chestnut will survive.Our last house had a horse chestnut in the gardeni plus squirrels and we had seedlings everywhere and they survive!!!!

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    1. We have Ash trees in the school grounds over the hedge and we are always pulling those seedlings out of the lawn and raised beds. It was a surprise to find the Horse Chestnut seedling although we are used to finding conkers buried or cracked open by the squirrels:)

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  2. You are having wonderful luck, with your garden!

    🌺Oil rises to the top...Like Truth🌺

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    1. Thank you, yes after a slow start things are beginning to get back to seasonal normal:)

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  3. Replies
    1. Yes, indeed they are but occasionally a few favourites are lost:)

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  4. That is a great haul of potatoes :) Good luck with the Horse Chestnut. Your garden is looking so colourful at the moment. Our yellow flags by the pond are just starting to flower too but the peony still has buds! I seem to remember last year both of mine flowered after yours. Have a great weekend.

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    1. Thank you. All the potatoes we are growing this year are from ones that sprouted in the vegetable drawer, we weren't eatng them quickly enough. They are all in the raised bed but this one was the first we planted and dug up. The peonies in the front garden have started to shed petals but the ones on the back are still okay. Have a super Sunday:)

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  5. An impressive amount of potatoes from just one. Hope they taste delicious. Good luck with you chestnut. Have a lovely weekend. B x

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    1. They did taste okay, we had a potato salad yesterday. Hope you are enjoyng the weekend:)

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  6. My father rarely bought special seed potatoes and had a good crop every year. Just the weather lately to give the gardens a boost.

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    1. Keeping my fingers crossed as the potatoes in the garden are from ordinary potatoes too. We've had a fall of rain overnight to water the garden which was much needed:)

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  7. That's an excellent haul of potatoes, ours are still coming along. You'll have to turn your horse chestnut into a bonsai! I love all the yellow and pink flowers in your garden, they are so beautiful. 😊

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    1. Good to have the potatoes. If the horse chestnut does grow we'll offer it to one of the local wildlife areas to plant as it would be too big here and cast too much shade. Perhaps it could be a Jubilee tree. The one next door is enormous and too big for the gardens really:)

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  8. You've done well from just one potato. It'll be interesting to watch the horse chestnut grow. The areas
    in your garden are looking colourful and I like your plants around the pond. A little pond is good for all sorts of wildlife and I would like to have one in our garden - it's just about finding the right spot.

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    1. We are lucky to have the pond it was here when we bought the house, it's a bit worse for wear in places but frogs have begun to return to it this year, we've started to sort it out and put oxygenating plants in over the last couple of months:)

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  9. All those wonderful potatoes for free! I hope the Horse Chestnut tree does well - it is always good to save a plant. You have an impressive amount of flowers Rosie! I hope you're spending lots of time in your lovely garden. :)

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    1. Hopefully we will have more free potatoes as all the ones growing in the garden were from potatoes we left too long in the drawer, three different varieties including pink fir apple. I think this is the busiest time for flowers in the garden, we may get some more later summer:)

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  10. Well done with the potato. The yellow Iris is beautiful, so bright and cheerful at this time of year.

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    1. Thank you, yes the iris are very cheerful by the pond, I love to see them:)

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  11. Lovely garden update & what a lovely surprise your one old potato gave you. I love your peonies and wish mine would flower. I've never had any luck with the few I've tried to grow over the years as they survive but never flower. We once planted a little oak that DH found on a walk one day & put it in up at our old house, but the new owners weren't particularly gardeners & pulled most of it out. Hope your little chestnut grows for you as they are certainly beautiful trees. Take care, stay safe & hugs.

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    1. The red peonies just come back each year and they have been moved several times over the years but like you we have a pink one that has never flowered. What a shame about the oak tree. I guess when we downsize and move on a lot of the trees will go and lots of the lawns too. Takecare:)

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  12. I used to love picking potatoes with my dad as a kid, you'd never know quite how many you'd find :) The garden is looking very lovely!

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    1. Thank you Pam. My dad used to grow them in rows of raised soil, all his vegetables were in rows, ours are all over the place and in pots too:)

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  13. I'm going to try and grow my own potatoes, I love it.
    Amalia
    xo

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