Friday 1 September 2017

Our Own Spuds

Little steamed spuds, tossed in cream with strips of bacon and seeded mustard, made for an impromptu warm potato salad that was simply delicious BUT it was somehow even better than that because these potatoes were homegrown! 

Moreish baby potatoes 

Just before I cooked these little baby potatoes, I unearthed them from under the soil in one of the Potato Planter Bags I grew them in. I bought two of these bags a while ago, from an organic gardening shop called Green Harvest, because I have never successfully grown potatoes in a garden bed here and thought this might be a solution. It worked so well!

Spuds growing in a Potato Planter Bag.


Just-out-0f-the-ground!

Underneath the soil in each bag were lots of little baby potatoes. My son and I had great fun digging them up!  A quick wash and peel and straight into the steamer to cook until tender. Into a pan with strips of fried bacon, a dollop or two of luscious cream and a teaspoon or so of seeded mustard.

Simple but my, our own spuds were good! 

Meg

p.s. I am not affiliated in any way with Green Harvest. If you are a gardener however, I should tell you that one could spend hours quite happily in their  shop and garden up at Witta (Sunshine Coast hinterland near Maleny). Rhonda over at Down to Earth wrote about her visit to Green Harvest a little while ago. 

24 comments:

  1. We grew some potatoes a few years ago it was so exciting collecting them.

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    1. Yes, great fun to put your hands in the soil and feel around for them in the earth. Lovely to eat them too! Meg:)

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  2. I think those bags would also be good to keep the potatoes from taking over.
    I'm preparing a rice salad and pasta salad tomorrow for Father's Day and was tossing up between potato salad or rice salad. My recipe sounds identical except my potatoes not homegrown.
    Enjoy your homegrown potato salad, it looks very tasty.
    Kylie

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    1. I've never had the problem of potatoes taking over, more of the slim pickings problem here! I have some more of these potatoes stored ready for another salad next week. I typically use cream or sour cream or plain yoghurt in my potato salad dressing because I don't like mayonaisse that much. Have a lovely Fathers' Day with your Dad on Sunday, Kylie. Meg:)

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  3. We bought a couple of those bags a while back and my husband didn't have any success with them but he tends to neglect things at time so I will have a go myself. Who know what will happen :-) Thanks for the potato salad idea, Meg.

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    1. You never know! I was careful to position them in a northerly position and not to overwater them so they didn't rot. There are instructions on how to set up the Potato Planter bag on the Green Harvest website too, Chel. I think I will wash the bags out and then try growing something else in them over the Spring. Meg:)

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  4. There is nothing wrong with wondering around a good nursery or garden center, nursery for plants, garden center for almost everything else. I love discovering an item I did not know existed, but once seen it's is a must have. I have a couple of potato bags which I should use.

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    1. I love wandering in nurseries, Marlene. I could lose myself for hours!! I especially like finding unusual things. I got a cranberry hibiscus a little while ago. Meg:)

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  5. Oh man, I wish I had some of those potatoes from your first photo now. Just looking at them makes me so hungry.

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    1. They were so yummy, Sherri. The cream really took on the flavour of the bacon and I love just about anything with mustard! Meg:)

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  6. My local guy at the rural produce store gave me some tips for growing spuds after I bought a kilo of seed potatoes from him. I will be sharing how that goes. It will be my 4th attempt at growing. Your's look great!

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    1. I look forward to reading about how you go with them on your blog, Clarissa. I thought they'd be easy to grow but I've always had trouble with them here, the planter bags were my solution and that worked. I made sure too that I didn't overwater them because that means they are more prone to fungal disease. Good luck with your spuds! Meg:)

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  7. They sure do taste better, we have have just dug two bucketfuls up as that is the patch where we will be having our avairy, but that won't stop me growing in pots and bags.

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    1. They definitely taste better, so fresh and creamy! I think these were little Dutch Cream potatoes from memory. I am hoping to your the bags, once I wash them out, for growing salad greens up on my verandah in the height of summer here. I found it easy to move these bags around and so that should work well for moving leafy greens into afternoon shade. Meg:)

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  8. I have never had much luck growing potatoes, the last time I tried growing them in a pot, the potato plants got a fungal disease. I will keep my eyes open for a grow bag. Thanks for the heads up.
    Fi

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    1. Hi, Fiona. It's disappointing when something you've planted and lovingly tended, doesn't produce anything much. I wonder if the soil in the pot was too wet as potatoes are prone to fungal disease in those types of conditions. I hope you'll have better luck next time. Meg:)

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  9. Oh how exciting! I've got potatoes in my garden at the moment, I had a little dig the other day to see if I could find any baby potatoes, but there were none, I'm hoping they are deeper down, I did dig a big trench when I planted them! I'll wait now until I see the tops start to die off, them I'll have a big dig! Finger's crossed!

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    1. It was very exciting, Cheryl, especially so because other times my potato crop amounted to nothing! It's quite magical how from just a few seed potatoes you can get so many spuds. I hope there are lots there waiting for you in the soil when you dig yours up! Meg:)

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  10. I love potatoes, yours look amazing! And as you say, they taste even better when you know you have grown them yourself. It is so very satisfying, isn't it?!

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    1. Oh, yes! I think growing a little of our own food is one of the most important and satisfying things I do in my life. Meg:)

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  11. I haven't had much luck growing regular spuds. But I did taste a small one, once. I know why you found them so delicious! A home grown tatter, is nothing like a store bought one. Well done.

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    1. I'm glad the planter bags worked, Chris, because I will be able to use them again and again. I will try growing salad greens in them, up on my verandah, in the height of Summer. They are easy to move around and so I can make sure they are out of scorching afternoon sun. Meg:)

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  12. Your recipe sounds delicious. I grew some little potatoes here one year, and they were so flavorful and tender. I remember needing to pile straw around them before harvesting. Your post makes me want to grow them again.

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    1. They do taste so fresh and flavourful straight from the garden. In planted the seed potatoes in soil in the bags but topped up with sugarcane mulch as they grew. Meg:)

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