When the sun finally showed itself again today, it was time for umpteen dozen loads of washing and a loooong trip to local park (with it's large climbing frame and slippery dip) with the kids.
I have been wondering for the past few days when my sweet potatoes (kumara) are going to be ready to harvest. I know many people who grow them "bandicoot" the tubers without digging up the whole patch, so after hanging out some of the washing I got down and had a look under the leaves in the potato patch, to find that there were several end bits of tubers poking out of the ground. So, I grabbed one and heaved it out! And here it is, my very first sweet potato:
It's huge, about 25cm or 10" long! About twice the size of the one I originally bought and planted out a few months ago, I was rather impressed with myself, LOL. I know, I know, it's nothing special, and they pretty much grow themselves, but hey, I'm a beginner ;-) Besides, I think potatoes and sweet potatoes are going to become our main source of carbohydrates in the future, given the skyrocketing prices of grains, particularly rice.
I also bought some amaranth grain this week to have a go at cooking (check out some information from Isabel Shipard about the nutritive value of amaranth here). If the kids like it, it might also become an alternative staple grain for us, as it is also easy to grow and harvest I have heard, with a decent yield per plant without taking up too much room (unlike wheat, for example), and the leaves are also edible when cooked.
Anyhoo, I'm off to make our Saturday night pizzas - tonight's topping is red onion jam, thinly sliced sweet potato and crumbled feta cheese. I'll let you know how it went ;-)
6 comments:
OMGoodness, I am yet again gobsmacked by the way the Universe keeps us all in 'touch'.
I was only chatting to Going Feral(ish) and K from The Wildbackyard about planting Amaranth and quinoa!
Hehehe!
Nice sweet potato! I haven't tried growing them, have just tried normal potatoes. Did you just grow it from a "supermarket" one or was it a seed one?
I just ordered strawberry plants from Diggers, and asked hubby to look through the catalog as well. We also ended up ordering an almond tree! Should be exciting to see how that goes.
Lara, that's just spooky! [Insert theme music from The Twilight Zone here]
Hi Kez, yep, I bought two organic sweet potatos and when they sprouted in the bottom of the cupboard, I whacked them in the vegie garden! Mmmmmmm, almonds, my favourite nut. Nuts are next on my list of fruit trees - having said that I don't know where I am putting the trees I already have, LOL.
Cheers, Julie
Awesome looking kumara. I will need to give these a go this year. Wasn't sure whether to do the same as potatoes or not - now I do lol.
Hi there,
They look great!
I have tagged you for some input for a question in my blog to do with an enterprising spirit.
" How have you generated income yourself, or what would you love to do if you knew you couldn't fail or you had all the time you needed ? " If you would like to participate please see the post on my blog. thanks
I was going to ask the same question as Kez - did you buy a "seed sweet potato" or a supermarket one, when did you plant it and how long has it been growing for - I'd love to try them....
Post a Comment