Get your seed potatoes from your grocer's now...

Time to look for sprouting potatoes in your local produce section for planting! Be sure to get organically grown potatoes (ones grown conventionally can be treated with a chemical sprout retardant). Choose ones that are about the size of a large chicken egg. Also find ones that are already showing the first signs of sprouting. For more in-depth information, Sprouting potatoes? What to do.

The yellow one is showing the first signs of sprouting: tiny yellow sprouts at the site of the 'eyes'. That's what the red one looked like about a week earlier. 

One week later, both potatoes continue to sprout.

I have kept these sprouts under a towel while they are sprouting, in a cool (not cold) space. Once you expose them to light, they will pause extending their sprouts. Be careful handling them as the sprouts grow as they can be fragile at this stage.

Once sprouts are about one inch long, we move them to a room where they receive _indirect_ sunlight. This will 'chit' them (help them store up the sun's energy for better growing). Be sure they _aren't hit_ with direct sun.

The potatoes will turn greenish and the sprouts will stiffen. Once they are chitted, proceed with your favorite planting methods.

Here's a row of potatoes planted in our greenhouse about a month ago. Potato leaves are very frost-sensitive. We start early batches in our greenhouses in February and March (Oregon, USA, Zone 7b) and later batches in April and May once the threat of frost is past.

Happy planting!

Local food: Grow your own beans and grains

It's just about time to be planting grains and beans in our area (Willamette Valley, Oregon USA, USDA Zone 7b). Every year we grow a yellow corn and a blue corn, two kinds of sorghum and amaranth; all of which we dry down, hand-process and grind for use in cereal and baking. We also grow lots of Scarlet Runner beans (pictured left) and kidney beans to be dried and used for cooking throughout the year. Here are links to show you our methods. 

Grow Your Own 'Blue Corn' Blue corn is higher in protein than yellow corn and it makes a delicious, sweet addition to your hot-cereal mix or baking recipes - Crumb-Free, Whole-Grain Cornbread Recipe . Here is info on growing and processing this heirloom grain, native to north America.

Corn bread made from a combination of blue and yellow corn we grew ourselves.

 Grow Your Own Protein - Scarlet Runner Beans: If you're interested in growing your own beans for winter-storage, this is a great variety to choose. Because the beans are so large, they are easy to process in the fall after you harvest them. They DO need trellising but adapt well to growing on a teepee, giving you a beautiful and fun, shady hide-out through the summer. If picked young, the beans and pods are even edible!

Shelling dried Scarlet Runner Beans is a favorite activity in the fall....

 

Grow your own Sorghum for grain and flour: Sorghum is a relatively easy grain to grow and process on a small to medium scale. It doesn't require heavy-feeding/fertilizer nor lots of water. We grow two varieties, BaYeKi, short-season, short height, less sweet; ideal for chicken feed but also fine for human consumption. And Kassaby, tall, long-season (often needs trellising to prevent lodging), sweet, wonderful flavor. Canes can be used for making syrup (but you have to choose either syrup or grain; you can't have both).

 

Kassaby sorghum being laid out to dry before being removed from stalks.

Most seed-saving doesn't happen till the fall but, if you want to save seeds from your crops, here are some things to be thinking of as you plant your crops in the spring:  Basic Seed-Saving on a Small Scale Happy Growing!
 

Image credit: Seed abundance! Mike Brunt