Coming up to Christmas it's been a bit hectic and I haven't been blogging as much as I'd like. On my list of things to do is to sit down and have a good read at blogs I follow so I can catch up on news and postings. There's such a great exchange of information and tips amongst the blogging community and I always enjoy reading other blogger's posts.
On the garden front, I thought I'd show my potatoes and how I've been storing them. I've been trying to ration my potatoes to keep them going a bit longer into the Winter. Two years ago I stored potatoes in the garage and when we had the bad snow and low temperatures the potatoes rotted. This year I have them in a cool, dark location indoor in potato bags like the one pictured. I grew Pentland Javelin and Maris Peer potatoes, putting them in around St Patricks Day, and digging the bulk of them up in September.
 |
| Photo above taken 9 Dec - potatoes as they are stored. I think they need a cooler storage location as I don't want them sprouting as they seem to be starting to do. |
 |
| Photo above taken 15 Sept - potatoes dug from the garden, grown in the ground. Bag grown potatoes weren't a success this year - too many slugs and snails. |
 |
| Above - my favourite way to eat potatoes is mashed, but above I've microwaved them slightly then roasted them in the oven for about 20 minutes with chili flakes and olive oil until crispy. Then I poured a little sweet chili sauce over them - yum! |
 |
| The carrots above were pulled at the end of November. I'm trying to lose a few pounds before Christmas so I decided to eat them raw and I used a little houmous dip with them as a healthy snack. The carrots tasted so much better than grocery store carrots - so tasty and sweet! Hope your Christmas and holiday plans and preparations are going well! |
Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.
Your roasties look deliciious, and your carrots have done really well. Mine grew so slowly this year that I managed only a very small harvest.
ReplyDeleteThe potato bags look nice. :)
ReplyDeleteI love the way you are storing your potatoes and hope they do well in those cute bags! The roasted potatoes look delicious...think I will try your way of fixing them!
ReplyDeleteRoast potatoes with chilli flakes and chilli sauce! Hey, Kelli, you're really getting the hang of this, aren't you? Maybe serve them on a bed of sliced chillis???
ReplyDeleteYou just can't beat home grown carrots.
ReplyDeleteI really like carrots raw and also grated with either pineapple or raisins as a side salad.
ReplyDeleteYour roasted potatoes look delicious. I like your post on potatoes very much, it is a fresh change after all those christmas things.
ReplyDeleteHi Kelli, we are not in the happy position of having potatoes to store due to the terrible summer we had and blight.It would be a shame to have them sprout now, it will be great to have your own roasties for Christmas dinner, likewise with our carrots.The slugs did not do too much damage to your harvest.Not a lot oging on inour allotment at present,we have sprouts, turnips and leeks in the ground pulling as needed.
ReplyDeleteHave a great Christmas with family and friends in case I am not on here before the holidays.I'm off to Copenhagan tomorrow for a few days sampling the Christmas markets!
Your potatoes are impressive. I have been buying potatoes at the store - a sign to me that I need to be growing more of them. But, as you say, the trick is in the storing of them. Sorry yours are still sprouting in the potato bag. I am trying to save my sweet potatoes from doing the same thing!
ReplyDeletePotato storage is a problem We forgot to plant potatoes last spring, but those that we left in the ground didn't freeze, but grew anyway and gave a small harvest. I'd like to grow more for they do well here. I like your idea of a potato bag, but where do you keep it? Merry Christmas.
ReplyDelete