Can I Speed Up Potato Sprouting?

Sorted potatoes and ripe Roma tomatoes

 Here's another question about growing potatoes:

"We just discovered that we can plant Irish potatoes at the end of this month, and were wondering if it is possible to sprout some of the ones from the grocery store (to have them ready by the end of this month).  I checked my potato bin in the pantry, and some potatoes have little eyes.....could I put a potato in some water, or would that just make them rot?" Ginny Lindsay - Paris Tennessee

Potatoes have a natural dormancy from the time they are harvested to when they begin to sprout, starting their next growth cycle. This can only be modified slightly by storage conditions. Though this dormancy varies from variety to variety, six-months is about average.

Sprouting potato, before dividing.

You can speed up the sprouting process slightly with increased moisture and warmth but putting them in standing water would lead to rot. We have had good success at layering potatoes in damp leaves and bringing them indoors to induce sprouting. Potatoes like to sprout in the dark however so don't expose them to light until the have begun to sprout. When the sprouts are about a half-inch (1 cm) long, they are an ideal length for "chitting". (See this blog-post for more details on chitting).

It is always best to use organically grown potatoes for seed as chemically grown potatoes have often been sprayed with a sprout retardant. While it doesn't usually stop potatoes from sprouting entirely, it can seriously slow them down.

Sprouting potato, after dividing. Each chunk is at least as big as a chicken's egg and has one or more sprouts.

Most varieties of potatoes take about 13 weeks to 17 weeks to mature. We like to stagger our plantings for several reasons. Planting succession crops gives you fresh-dug potatoes over a longer season. Also, if you save the seed-size potatoes out of each digging, they will naturally begin to sprout in succession too meaning that you will always have sprouting potatoes, ready for planting for next year's cycle of staggered crops.

Links to our other potato blogs, go to:
Sprouting Potatoes? What to do.

Do I need to buy seed potatoes?

How to Plant Potatoes 
Planting Potatoes in Clay Soil

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Grow Your Own 'Blue Corn'

Jim husks blue corn.

Part of becoming more self-sufficient has been to grow our own corn-meal. We chose an heirloom-variety of blue corn called Hooker's Blue because it's easy to grow, has high yields and makes delicious corn-meal that can be used as hot cereal, and in baked goods such as corn bread and pancake mix.

Our first corn crop was in the summer of 2015. We'd been given a small, shriveled ear at a seed-swap. The corn was already two years old and, since corn seed degrades faster than most, we weren't sure how viable it would be. In this case we pre-sprouted it and only planted seeds that germinated. Our young friend Serenity patiently and diligently planted the corn in cultivated soil -- 5" apart and 1" down, gently covering the seeds with soil as she went.

This is the cob-size we used to start our first crop of Hooker's Blue corn, which we grew out and re-planted as seed. Just two years later, our harvest is enough to feed Chris and I for a year with  enough surplus to share with the garden-families who help us (at least 10-gallons of shucked corn! This was from four, sixty-foot rows.)

We have a lot of blue-jays in our neighborhood, and some crows - both who love corn! One year we planted corn, saw the new seedlings sprout above-ground in the afternoon -- a whole long, row of them, came back the next morning and discovered that each and every one had been dug up and eaten! So, to prevent this happening again we covered our newly planted corn with 'floating row cover' (brand-name: "Reemay") a synthetic, white cloth that lets rain and sunlight reach the plants but protects them from light frosts and hungry garden-creatures! Reemay must be pinned in place, or held down with bricks or stones. It can be left on till seedlings start pushing at it from below at which point it's unlikely that birds/animals will dig up and eat your plants.

Covered row cloth protects young crops from mild frosts and animals that might eat the tender, new plants. Remove once plants are pushing up on bottom of cloth. (Pic credit)

The soil we planted in was fairly poor and newly tilled so once the seedlings were a few inches above-ground, we gave them a thorough soaking with compost-tea.

Compost tea is steeped in large batches and then poured generously on crops to fertilize them.

That first year, our harvest was moderate but plenty for a large seed-crop to plant in our second year. Since we had plenty of fresh seed, we used a different method for planting. We prepared the ground by spreading a light sprinkling of wood-ash LINK. Chris tilled this into the soil as deep as the tiller would go. He then scattered a combination of corn seed and kidney bean seeds (a 'bush' variety that we dried and shelled for use in soups and chili). He then set the tiller to a very shallow setting - about 2", and tilled both varieties of seed into the ground. We then marked the row with string so no-one would walk on it and waited for the seedlings to emerge.

The orange string (around bed to left of hose) is used to mark newly planted soil so no one walks on it by accident.

Corn is typically a heavy-feeder (it needs rich, fertile soil). If your soil is depleted, your corn-crop will benefit from additional feeding as it grows. This past year, about mid-season, after a thorough weeding, we added a thick layer of partially composted leaves and grass-clippings around the base of the corn and bean plants. Then, whenever we watered, the plants were fed.

Shucking corn and shelling beans are a favorite autumn activity at the Sharing Gardens.

Corn is pollinated primarily by wind so it is best if you plant either multiple rows, near to each other, or wide-beds (the width of the tiller - as we did). If you are growing a small crop, planting it in a solid square, or block works well too. Since the beans and corn are both left till dry on the plant, you do not need access to the plants in the center of the patch during the growing season. (Note: Hooker's Blue corn is also quite tasty as a sweet-corn if you harvest it once kernels are fully formed but still soft and yellow. Cook as you would regular sweet-corn).

Hooker's Blue corn, though not very tall at full height (typically 4 to 4 and 1/2 feet) yields large harvests -- one to two 4"-6" ears per stalk. Here, students are mulching an adjacent bed with wheat straw.

In this picture, corn has finished ripening, and is partially drying on the stalk. Christie harvests the ears to be husked and further dried in our greenhouse.

Because we use the corn to make corn-meal, we leave it on the plants, in the field, till it is quite hard and has turned dark purple (almost black). We check it every few days by pressing a fingernail into the kernels of corn. It's done when you can no longer dent it with your nail. Ears of corn are then harvested, husked and left to dry on racks in our greenhouses. The dryer it is, the easier it is to remove the kernels from the cob (shucking). If Fall weather starts getting too damp for the corn to dry properly, we bring it inside and put it on shelves above our wood stove to finish the process.

Christie and Chelsea remove husks and lay cobs onto a drying table to continue to dry. Corn is easiest to remove from the cobs if it is dried well.

Shucking can be done simply by twisting the cobs in your hands to break loose the kernels (you might want to wear gloves!). If you have a lot of shucking to do, here's a simple tool Chris made that really speeds up the process!

Home-made corn-shucker. The cob is twisted against protruding screws.

Close-up of corn-shucker. Long screws are driven in from four sides leaving an interior hole ~ one-inch in diameter so cob fits but corn is rubbed off; wood is added at ends to prevent splitting and the handle makes it easier to use.

A tub of dried corn-kernels.

Lastly, be sure to store your corn in a cool place, in air-tight containers. Because of corn's high oil content it can go rancid; this ruins the flavor and makes it unhealthy to eat. Be sure to set aside enough seed for next year's crop. To ensure best viability, we freeze our corn-seed in air-tight containers.

Grinding corn: Obviously, if you're growing your own corn for grinding, you're going to need a grain-mill! After carefully comparing reviews of different brands and models, we chose to invest in a top-of-the line Diamant grain-mill. This is considered an 'heirloom' appliance in that, with proper care it will last for generations. Ours came with a handle for hand-grinding, can be hooked up to a bicycle for larger, human-powered batches or hooked up to a small motor (which is what we did) so we can grind large batches with ease. If the price-tag is prohibitive, consider purchasing one with your neighbors and setting it up in a central location for all to share.

Mill hooked up to motor for faster grinding. It comes with a handle, for hand-grinding and we also have seen instructions for hooking it up to a stationary bicycle.

Close-up view of Diamant grain-mill. The 'can' on top has an open bottom and allows us to pour more grain in at a time. The knob at left adjusts the fineness of the grind.

Close-up of mounted engine.

Variety we like: Hooker's Blue corn
Obtained from Native Americans in the Pacific NW (Washington state, USA) in the 1950's. It is an Heirloom, non-hybrid variety that will "grow-true" year-after-year so you can save your own seed.
Description: 75-80 days - to maturity. The 4-4 1/2 foot stalks produce 5-7 inch ears of some of the finest tasting corn. Ears typically have 10-12 rows of kernels that dry blue-black upon maturing - 1 or 2 ears per plant.
Why we like it: Does well in a cooler, damper climate. Because of its short-stalk, it won't 'lodge' (fall over) as taller varieties sometimes do. Grinds into the sweetest cornmeal! Can be as much as 30% higher in protein than regular 'sweet-corn' LINK-nutritional facts.

Another variety we like: Golden Bantam corn. This variety is typically grown as a sweet-corn and eaten fresh but we discovered that it can be dried on the cob and processed in the same way as the Hooker's Blue and makes a delicious, sweet corn-meal! It tends to grow on shorter stalks so is less likely to blow over than some other varieties and produces corn with an old-fashioned, buttery, sweet-corn flavor. It's delicious even raw, right off the stalk! Bantam is also an Heirloom/open-pollinated variety so you can save your own seed.

 

Saving seed:  Corn is notorious for cross-pollinating so, on years you are saving seed, you need to grow only a single variety or have multiple varieties grown quite distant from each other. Since corn is primarily wind-pollinated, grow the variety you wish to save seed from upwind (of your area's prevailing winds) to further minimize crossing.

Favorite recipes: Hooker's Blue corn is deliciously sweet and nutty-flavored. Here are some ideas for using it in recipes.

Hot cereal: Stir ground corn into lightly salted water in a 3:1 ratio (three times as much water as corn). Gently heat the corn  and water together, stirring occasionally and simmer on low heat, in a covered pan for ~20 min.

Crumb-Free Whole Grain Corn Bread: We make a large batch of the dry-mix ahead of time so it's easy to just add milk, eggs and oil for a quick batch of corn bread or pancakes. Yum! LINK-Recipe

Whole Grain No-Knead Bread: We've adapted Jim Lahey's delicious no-knead bread-recipe to incorporate whole wheat flour and blue-corn meal. So tasty and nourishing! LINK-Recipe

Scarlet Runner Beans: Here is a post about "Growing Your Own Protein - Scarlet Runner Beans" - LINK. Beans and corn together give you all the essential amino-acids needed in one meal (a complete protein) and it's delicious too!

Beautiful scarlet runner bean blossoms!

Leave us your tips for growing, and links to recipes in the comments below! (But please don't include ad-links to our 100% ad-free site - thanks!)

 

Sharing Gardens - Early Winter Digest

Here is a digest of all the posts we've published (or re-published) in the last six weeks. We hope there's at least one link below that interests you! We hope 2023 was  blessed for you and all the circles you touch (including the non-human ones!). May this coming year be one for all of us to embrace life-giving habits and generosity!  Llyn and Chris

What we grew/Lessons Learned: Year in Review: The 2023 season was our best year yet in anticipating the needs of our garden helpers and the food charities we serve. At the beginning of the 2023 season, we reviewed the patterns of previous years' donations and shifted our planting strategies accordingly. This post offers highlights of our learnings. What we grew/Lessons Learned: Year in Review

Starting Seedlings Directly in Greenhouse Raised Beds:  A re-published post on our experiments with starting seedlings (to be transplanted to other beds) directly in our greenhouse raised beds. This worked quite well for several crops including: lettuce, broccoli, kale, collards, onions and cabbage. They are all plants that transplant easily and will germinate in relatively cool soil. Starting Seedlings Directly in Greenhouse Raised Beds 

Full Circle Generosity: The Sharing Gardens operate on the principle of mutual- or full-circle generosity, finding ways to help each other in the community in which we live. Here are two actual examples of how this works: Full Circle Generosity - some examples... 

Gallery of Givers: Highlights from the 2023 Season: Here is a gallery of some of the year's highlights with our wonderful share-givers.  Gallery of Givers: Highlights from the 2023 Season

Tips for Maintaining a Well-Stocked Pantry: Whether you’re concerned about preparing for a natural disaster or economic hard times, or just tired of opening your cupboards and not having a variety of tasty, nutritious items to choose from, it’s always a good idea to get in the habit of stocking and maintaining one’s pantry. Here are some tips to help. Tips for Maintaining a Well-Stocked Pantry 

Wim Hof - Benefits of Cold Showers: For several years, Chris and I have been following the work of Wim Hof (affectionately know as the Iceman! - image: left). He recommends taking cold showers and ice-baths for their health and spiritual benefits. Here's a post that outlines the benefits of cold showers as well as a video interview with Wim Hof. Wim Hof - Benefits of Cold Showers  

What we grew/Lessons Learned: Year in Review

The 2023 season was our best year yet in anticipating the needs of our garden helpers and the food charities we serve. In recent years, the food pantry that shares our parking lot (SBFP - LINK) has had the "high quality problem" (haha) of an amazing surplus of fruits and vegetables being donated from local gardeners in the peak of the harvest season (typically mid-August through early October). There have been weeks when it was hard to find room on the tables for our donations!

At the beginning of the 2023 season, we reviewed the patterns of previous years' donations and shifted our planting strategies accordingly. This post offers highlights of our learnings.

Our crops fall into two main groupings: the crops we grow abundantly enough to share with charities; and the crops we grow primarily for ourselves and the Gardens' supporters.

In 2023 we grew enough of the following summer crops to share with garden supporters and charities: lettuce, cabbage, cucumbers, peppers, beets, garlic, kale, chard, collard greens and celery.  

All of these are the kinds of produce that are not typically donated in large quantities to the pantries by other gardeners. They are easy to grow, requiring minimal maintenance once they are established. They are also easy to harvest in large quantities (unlike, for example green beans, which are very labor-intensive to harvest).  (Salad-left is all from the gardens!)

In addition to these crops, there are some summer crops that we are only able to grow enough for our inner circle of participants/supporters. These include (but are not limited to): carrots, broccoli, potatoes and figs.

The Sharing Gardens also grows winter storage crops that can be distributed to our supporters and  food charities* through the fall and early winter (when other local gardeners have stopped donating). These crops we donate to charities include: cabbage*, beets*, celery*, winter squash*.

We typically grow enough of the following winter storage crops, just for our inner circle: lettuce, carrots, potatoes, dried beans, and dried corn and sorghum (for cereal and baking).

Though overall, we were very pleased with the quantities we grew of all our crops, here are a few specific notes we'll keep in mind for 2024.

A cornucopia of Sharing Gardens veggies!

Carrots and beets: Chris did a fantastic job of growing carrots and beets in succession (staggering the plantings so we almost always had some to harvest). We had enough surplus beets to share with the charities but since our sharegivers all love homegrown carrots, it's hard to grow enough to share beyond our inner circle of helpers/supporters. We'll continue to grow as many as we can but it's unlikely we'll ever have a significant surplus. (carrots (left) Imperator variety: To grow this long, they need very deep and loose soil. We grow them in our GH raised beds)

Our beets did phenomenally well this year! This variety is called "Detroit" and typically they have rather small 'greens' (not so in our case). Also, common wisdom says that you must direct sow beets where you want them to grow as they're not supposed to transplant well. We have disproven this 'common wisdom' for two summers in a row. The above beets were sown very closely together in raised, greenhouse beds and, when the greens were about 2" - 3" tall, we very carefully dug them up (being careful not to damage their tap roots). We replanted them 5-6" apart, covered them with a floating row cover (Remay) and kept them moist while they overcame transplant shock and, as you can see, they did very well! (395 pounds over the course of the whole season!)

There's just no comparison between store-bought and home-grown carrots! Our soil is highly mineralized from compost and wood-ash which makes for sweet, crisp (but not 'woody') carrots. Our share-givers and other supporters eat the carrots we grow as fast as we can grow them!

Cabbage: We had two really good green cabbage crops this year. Though cabbages averaged about 8-10 pounds (left), we had one beauty that grew to 13.5 pounds (below)! (That's the biggest one Chris has ever grown!). This fertility all came without using store-bought fertilizer or animal-based amendments (blood/bone meal etc). LINK: Making Your Own "Veganic" Potting Soil in Your Greenhouse Paths - Using Worms   We're sure, had we grown more cabbage and had a good way to store it that food charities would have been happy to distribute more of it for as long as we could have provided it. (Total pounds: green cabbage: 210 pounds, Red cabbage: 108)

Here's the queen cabbage from this year's harvests. She weighed 13.5 pounds!

I know...hard to believe, right?

This cabbage, cut up, served six families at the food pantry! (Thanks Darlene, for these wonderful pics!)

Potatoes: We had several bumper crops of potatoes.  Our big breakthrough with the potatoes was to grow some of them in the raised beds of our greenhouses. We've had problems in the past with our seed potatoes (saved from our fall harvests) breaking dormancy in January or February, when it's too early to safely plant them outside. Last winter, we had some extra space in the Sunship GH and so we planted them there. The potatoes did beautifully and we had many abundant and delicious harvests through the summer and fall (including the potatoes grown outside the greenhouses, we harvested over 400 pounds!).

I think this is the largest potato we've ever grown. I forget how much it weighed (and can't find my notes) but, wow, it was a biggie!

Other staple, storage crops we grew this year included dried blue and yellow corn (Hooker's Blue and Golden Bantam) and Kassaby sorghum.  We dry and grind these grains and use them for cereal and baking. We are now growing enough to share significant amounts with our share-givers too.  (LINKS: Grow Your Own 'Blue Corn', Grow your own Sorghum for grain and flour, ).

We grew a lot more winter-storage crops this year. Here we have Hooker's Blue and Golden Bantam corn. Both can be eaten fresh (as sweet corn), or dried and ground (we use it mainly in hot cereal). To dry, we peel the husks back and lay the cobs in the sun in our greenhouse. As the husks dry, they pulls moisture from the kernels. (Grow Your Own 'Blue Corn' )

Beans: We harvested over 50 pounds of Scarlet and Giant Greek White 'runner' beans which grow on teepees and trellises, and about 20 pounds of kidney beans which are a bush bean. We are now growing enough dried beans for all of Chris' and my personal use (we're vegetarians so that's a lot of beans!) and, for the past two years we have also grown enough dried beans to share a modest amount with our inner circle as well. Grow Your Own Protein - Scarlet Runner Beans

It's comforting to know that, with the low-tech methods we've developed, and by dedicating more of our fields to growing them, we could probably provide a significant amount of these grain and bean staples for the Garden's main participants.

Scarlet runner beans in their shells after harvest. 

Scarlet runner and Giant Greek white runner beans ready for storage. They always remind me of jewels!. Grow Your Own Protein - Scarlet Runner Beans

In 2023 we tried a new variety of winter squash (Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato Squash) that has been very popular at pantries and among our garden helpers. It has a very creamy consistency and is mildly sweet.

This is a new variety of winter squash we grew this year: Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato squash. We only grew this variety as it's in the same family as other squash we love and we wanted to be sure the seed we saved is pure. (It is in the Pepo family which also includes Delicata, zucchini, crook neck and more...). We've saved enough seed to last us for many years and to share with other growers.

In this coming year, the only significant changes to growing the winter storage crops will be to increase the amount and variety of winter squash. 

Typically, we're able to store winter squash at least through till February. So far this year we've had enough to supply our supporters and one of the three food charities we serve (Of the 594 pounds we harvested, we have about 30 pounds still in storage). Next year, we'd love to grow enough winter squash to provide for the needs of our second food pantry and the soup kitchen we serve - at least through till February too. 

We are careful to isolate squash varieties that can cross so we can save pure seed. (Above: Sweet Meat squash and seeds being rinsed; to be dried and saved).

We also had a phenomenal year for fruit. Everyone did in our area. Our apple, pear, plum and fig trees, and grape vines all produced record amounts of fruit. Food pantries were inundated! Our trees were no exception and we had plenty of apples to share with our volunteers as well as enough for our use through the winter and to make apple/quince/pear sauce (49 quarts!). We also canned over 135 quarts of fruit and veggie juice and 36 quarts of stewed tomatoes.

These are some of the canned foods we prepared this past fall: veggie juice and canned, whole tomatoes.

Speaking of tomatoes...In previous years, we've grown way too many (over 200, one year - but averaging about 100 plants)! Since this is such a popular plant for home gardeners to grow, the food charities are typically inundated with donations starting in late summer. So this year we restrained ourselves to just 44 plants. This probably should have been enough except we had a condition called blossom end rot affect about a third of them, radically reducing their productivity and we barely had enough tomatoes to make our delicious canned veggie juice. In the coming year, we're going to try growing some outside our greenhouses (like we used to), try to be more consistent in watering the ones inside, and try pruning a little less radically and see if we can increase production again.

We also will grow fewer sweet peppers (and one or two more jalapenos). We grew 16 red and yellow sweet pepper plants this year and, though we were able to distribute all we grew, the final harvest (to beat the frost) was 90 pounds! That's a lot of peppers! In 2024, we'll grow more jalapenos since the one plant we had didn't seem to fill people's desire for spicy, hot peppers! The five poblano peppers we grew seemed to be just about right. (right: Pimento red  and Gatherer's Gold yellow sweet peppers)

It has been an excellent year overall!

We hope 2023 was  blessed for you and all the circles you touch (including the non-human ones!). May this coming year be one for all of us to embrace life-giving habits and generosity!  Llyn and Chris