Gardeningwithe Podcast

     I now have a podcast available. So far I only have a few episodes, but will add more (and get better at it I hope). So, if sounds a little rough I am newbie feeling my way through the dark.

     I have covered an intro. about why I garden, a segment about gardening with kids and an add on about how to save costs.

     I am posting the links below. Do you lime listening to podcasts, watch shows or youtube videos about gardening? What topics do you like to see or hear?

                      Happy Gardening!!



Listen to this episode of my podcast, Gardening With E, Gardeningwithe Intro. Episode https://anchor.fm/gardeningwithe/episodes/Gardeningwithe-Intro--ECheck out my podcast, Gardening With E, on Anchor: https://anchor.fm/gardeningwithepisode-e1okrc


Listen to this episode of my podcast, Gardening With E, Gardening With Kids https://anchor.Listen to this episode of my podcast, Gardening With E, Gardening With Kids https://anchor.fm/gardeningwithe/episodes/Gardening-With-Kids-e1qbhcfm/gardeningwithe/episodes/Gardening-With-Kids-e1qbhc

Wisdom Wednesday- Through the eyes of a child

I was moving over one of the squash plants off of the potato area and felt something hard under my hand. So I moved over the grass mulch and found a small red potato. Little E was so excited we dug up the underground patch and found a small harvest of purple and red potatoes. She loved it!!! She kept taking them in the house behind her back to surprise daddy. It was the cutest!!

Here is a picture of our little harvest:


Not much to it but enough for some mashed potatoes. So, my wisdom for today is to look at each harvest big or small through the eyes of a child. Any amount is a blessing and something to be excited about.
Happy Gardening!

Potato Berries-True Potato Seed

Back in the Spring we bought a small bag of multi colors potato tubers. I stuck three in the ground and three in a pot. Only one in the pot and twp in the ground survived. I think the pot had too much water after some heavy rains and I didn't hill as well as I should have with the ones in ground so I figured it would be a loss. 

Then, the ones in the ground bloomed, and got some potato berries. Now, if you have never seen a potato berry they look like little green tomatoes. I did a little research and found out that they are in the same family as tomatoes even though one puts out fruit above ground (tomatoes) and the other below ground (potatoes). Also, don't eat the berries they are poisonous.

The potato berry is where true potato seed comes from. You can save them much like you do tomato seeds. Squish open, put seeds and pulp in a container (I put a little water), and keep,in the cup a few days. Swirl the content some during that time to help seperate the seeds from the pulp. The viable seeds are supposed to sink to the bottom. Then spoon off the pulp and seeds that float to the top. Drain (preferable with a strainer to catch seeds) and lay seeds out to dry. Some place on a plate while others use papertowels and just tear off what they need when they go to start them.

The berry is in the corner of the picture, but hard to see so I have included a close up below. Right above the label is where he is hiding.

Something to know about true potatoes seeds (TPS) is that they are not true to the parent like tubers are. Some seeds may be but others are different. This meams the potatoes from the plant will be differ gentetically. So they could have a different size, taste, look etc. from the original parent plant. 

Also, if you want to grow potatoes from seed you will need to start them indoors in the winter so that a plant can grow. That plant will then be transplanted outdoors in the Spring. TPS take longer to produce potatoes than tubers, which is why so many people plant tubers instead. 

Here is how many seeds I got from three potato berries. Keep in mind I lost a few in the transfer (I didn't have a strainer small enough to catch them and ended up pouring them onto a paper towel instead).

They are very small seeds. The good thing is that there are quite a few considering the berries are pretty small. 

We plan to try it out this winter. If it goes well I may do a seed giveaway next year if anyone shows interest. If you'd like me to have a seed giveaway let me know in the comments below. 

Anyone else get a potato berry this year? Are you planning on saving the seeds?

Happy Gardening!

There is no place like home...

     I have returned from my trip which means I have finished the part of summer where I am away from home a lot. I will have to give the garden some TLC next weekend, but for now I have been harvesting, saving some seed, and putting a little back.
The garden certainly grew while I was away!!
Here are the front garden tomatoes


     These are the strawberries and couple of fall squash plants. Also one cucumber that I moved from behind the tomatoes before I left.



Front garden yellowneck squash.



The Pappaw Bill tomato has grown a lot, has blooms, and a few little tomatoes appearing. It is surrounded by squash and zucchini.



My pot potato is looking a little sad, but hopefully will get better. Mr. Zucchini and planter tomato are pretty happy, and will be even better with a good watering.



The cucumbers and beans are producing. In fact, one cucumber plant is all over the place. We were able to harvest a few beans. Hopefully before long there will be enough for a true mess.



The grapevine and beans underneath are doing just fine. I can't wait until nex t year when the grapevine has a new home and can grow up a trellis again.



Thepumpkins, corn and beans are rocking it out. Also, I discovered one plant I thought was a pumpkin is patty pan squash. Harvested three of them today. (Ms. Patty Pan is front and center by the walkway).



Overview of the small pumpkin and corn patches.



Here  are a few pics of the harvest (other than the patty pan squash and a few more tomatoes and two 9regular yellow squash). The Pink Brandywine tomatoes are so big they are trying to split so I will harvest when they begin to turn and let them ripen in the windowsill.









And here is little E with her giant zucchini! She is also holding her gardening hat I picked up in New Orleans.



     We have been busy with our little harvest. So busy I forgot to take pics! We went ahead and cut  a mix of the yellow squash, pattypan, and zucchini for dinner tonight. Then we cut up most of the rest, blanched it, and put in a gallon freezer bag for this winter. Lastly, we saved some seeds from those, the tomatoes, and the true potato seeds. Thank goodness because it doesn't appear we will get many if any actual potatoes this year. Time will tell.

    We have three smaller squash waiting to be fried later this week, three cucumbers to cut and eat fresh, and a variety of tomatoes. Shew! I usually like to pick and eat as I go. Hopefully, now that we are home and used up the excess we can get back to that!

What have you been doing in your garden?

I am spending this week in New Orleans with work and am missing home and my garden. I am,however, enjoying all the pretty greenery here in the big easy. I especially loved the swamp tour. Here are some photos I took out there:

I have some closer ones but they are all appearing sideways so maybe another day. I talked to my hubby today and had him water my plants so maybe they shall be ok for my return. 

Happy Gardening! 

Back Garden Tour...

     We have strolled through the front and side gardens and finally made our way to the back. It is comprised of a small area by the walkway and a larger area that extends from the walkway, under the porch steps and to the house. We have sectioned it off into two square sections and one open grow section. We have a small walkway (until the pumpkins take it over) that has compost piles, a few pots, and one flower.

     First up is the grape vine. I pruned heavily planning to move it, but will have to wait until fall. So, this year it is mostly foilage. We had a few grapes growing, but little E kept messing with them. Planted below the grape vine leaves are several bean plants.

     In one square we were going to have lettuce and other shade loving and low growing plants, but little E planted pumpkins everywhere so we can have some pumpkins for Halloween. Now it is pumpkins and maybe one cucumber. Plus....a few bean plants.

     In the other square we have a small corn patch with pole beans growing up the corn... and a bit of the porch railing. I hope we have enough corn to achieve ok pollination. We shall see!!

     In the free patch we have pumpkins!! Believe it or not I thinned them. I have no idea what type of pumpkins because we just saved seeds from the pumpkin we carved last year and little E  made a few holes and threw them all over the ground. We even have a few in random non-garden spots.

     Along the little walkway we have our new compost piles, a pot of carrots, some lettuce and beets in a pot, and a flower I got for my bday. I don't know what it is, but is isn't dead yet so that is something.

     We hope everyone enjoyed our little tour today. Sometimes, what you plan for your garden goes awry and the plants that pop up dictate it. I decided to embrace that this year since my little E is loving it. Have you ever thrown a garden plan out the window and then be pleasantly surprised by it. If so, feel free to share in the comment section below. Happy gardening everyone!

Where the wild things grow...

Sometimes nature is a better gardener than I am. Ok, most of the time she is. I leave a stretch around part of our property to grow as it wishes. Too much upkeep otherwise (though I may get froggy one day and try to tame part of it). Also, I live in a rural area and it gives the local wildlife refuge, food, and safe travels to other areas.

It can be tricky with the animals sometimes, but it is oh so pretty! I hear birds, frogs, and crickets on the regular, and we have wild honeysuckle and blackberries every year. It also gives a rather nice privacy screen, which is especially nice when I don't have to see the neighnors cows during mating and birthing times!

This is what it looks like by my driveway:

Some people think it looks messy and unkempt, but I think it is beautiful and real. If you look closer you will find:

More pics of the side and back of the property:

A few up close photos:

Does anyone else let some area grow naturally? I'd love to see some pictures!!

Wisdom Wednesday

Bloom where you are planted.

This has been the theme of my garden this year since my little E has helped so much. We have beans intermixed everywhere, our one or two pumpkins became many more, and lettuce is popping up in random places. But you know what? Little E is happy and things are growing so I am looking at it all as a success. Case in point lettuce is popping up in between our walkway and porch and beans are growing under the grapevine.

I hope you are embracing any little happy accidents that are popping up in your garden!!

Side Garden Tour

     We wandered through the front garden the other day, so now we will show you what we have along the side of the house. When we talked about where we plant I mentioned that some of the side plants are in ground and some are in containers due to it often being a wet mess, terrible drainage, and hard clay soil.

     First up I have another squash plant which we moved from the other squash area. It was just getting shaded out by the others. This one is definitely smaller than the two in front but is starting to produce. I really wasn't sure if we would get anything from it, but am pleased to see we will.

     Nestled beside him is a new addition. My grandfather brought me a yellow cherry tomato plant and a great tomato cage. He gave us one last year which made little E so happy. He dug a hole in the ground and stuck it in pot and all. I am excited because the tomatoes seems to be spacing themselves out.

     We have a few red million starting to turn already, Pink Brandywine have green ones on the vine, Mr. Stripey is blooming, unknown tomato (up soon) has green ones and lots of blooms, and this one will come in later in the season. Tomatoes are one of my favorite veggies straight from the vine. Store tomatoes will never compare
Knowing we will have fresh tomatoes all season make me happier than You can imagine.

     Next to the tomato plant is a zucchini plant. He is smaller than the one you will see in a moment, but he is starting to get some buds so I think he will be alright in the end.

     Then we have a flower-a pink looking daisy. It was given as a gift and at the time blooming nicely. Then little E tore off all the petals because they were pretty. I decided to plant it outside and see how it did. So far it has nice green growth but no new blooms.

     Then we have a bean plant and a potato in a container. The potato is looking nice, but hasn't bloomed yet. This bucket had three seed potatoes as well, but is seems like only one is still going.

     Next to those is our pepper plant that is in a container. We had another pepper plant that was put in ground, but he didn't make it. The soil was just too wet and hard. This one is going to be a good producer as he has three growing with more blooms coming on.

     Mr. Zucchini as little E calls hm is next. He is much larger than the other one even though he is in the ground as well. I think it is because he is flanked by containers which block some of the water flow.  We have already eaten one zucchini and it was delicious.

     Next up is the planter with an unknown tomato. It was a volunteer that cropped up late last year. I stuck it in the planter to see if I could get anything overwintering it indoors. That only resulted in a few random blooms that didn't produce any tomatoes. It survived though, and now that it is back outside it has plenty of tomatoes. I  am eager to see what kind they are and how they taste.

     Next up is the cucumber in a container. He is growing well and we have several tiny cucumbers growing along with one that should be ready to pick soon.

     Then we have an in ground cucumber plant with beans in between. Then we have two tomato cages with... you guessed it more beans growing in them.

     Lastly we have a pea tower. Due to all the heat it isn't towering very high, but we have still been able to get some peas off of it. I figure we will have better luck when we plant peas this fall. We also have a pot that we just planted some fall squash seeds in. 

     We hope you have enjoyed our side garden tour. Are there any areas in your garden that you have difficulties with or did you manage to end some terrible clay soil? Feel free to share with us in the comments below. Happy Gardening!!