Update – Potato, carrot and escallion. The tallest potato plant is 12 inches tall. Nothing else appears to be different. It continues to grow on the surface but I guess the magic continues underground. The carrot and the lettuce died 😦 . I changed the water for the carrot every other day but it still rotted. The lettuce initially showed some potential but it also died. It could be that I placed it in the soil too quickly. I may try again, but in the meantime, I’ve concluded that it might be more practical to grow carrots and lettuce from seeds.
The escallion is now between 4-7 inches; it’s incredible! Each stalk can yield enough new growth for one meal after 1-2 weeks in either soil or water. Both approaches seem to produce the same level of growth, but I noticed that the one in the soil had a darker shade of green when compared to the ones in the water. I also prefer the soil method because the water method is too much work. To avoid breeding mosquitoes I had to change the water daily and that could not work during periods of abandonment. Now I’ve put everything in soil and left the pot under the eave. I will check back on them in two weeks.
Now unto growing leeks, onion and garlic.
Onions and garlic are a usual part of my shopping but leeks is something new. I chose it because it had roots growing from the base….these days I am more vigilant in my grocery shopping. I am happy to see roots because I may be able to regrow the produce… I had no idea how to prepare leeks so I decided to learn.
Leeks – had it in the fridge too long
Potted leeks
I removed the base just like I did with the escallion and lettuce and I potted it straight into the soil (using water to start is becoming tiresome). I am trusting that the roots that are on it are not too badly damaged from being in my refrigerator for about two weeks before being used. I used the rest of the leeks to make a shepherds pie (my first). I complemented it with red onions, cabbage, callaloo, carrots and broad beans. It turned out just great…yummy 🙂 .
Back to planting.
For the garlic, I separated some cloves and potted five of them (the biggest ones) directly in the soil. In each instance I tried not to disturb the bottom of the clove because I am hoping that’s where the roots will come out. I poured soil in a planter and placed the base of each clove down, while spacing them about 3 inches apart. I then covered them fully with more soil (about an inch). Let’s see what happens.
Garlic for planting
As for the onion, I planted about one-third of it – the bottom part which had some very dry roots; I am hoping that life will return to the onion. I’m also not sure how to plant onions and farmer Google wasn’t of much help with planting from cuttings. So, the first day I put the roots in the soil and had the top of the cut part of the onion exposed. That didn’t sit well with me, and as I thought about it in the night I decided to cover the entire thing with soil, which I did the next morning. I am hoping that a new onion or onions will emerge somehow.
For these new additions I’ve taken to watering them each morning. I’m trusting that that will be enough because they will be on their own for the next two weeks.
Posh Farming 