A Word On Composting #VegetableGardening #SpringPrep #Gardening

A Word On Composting #VegetableGardening #SpringPrep #Gardening

My compost pile December 2015... The Beginning

So, it is spring. As I have stated before, now is the time for spring garden preparation. One of the biggest advantages to starting all of your seeds indoors as I did in my seed starting post (#SeedStarting--click for tips and tricks on how to do that) is that even for cold-hardy plants, they can get a jump on growing as you clean and clear out your garden space, especially if you're a first-time gardener, and especially especially ("oh my god! He used two especiallys. Where's the grammar gestapo?") if you're not a first time gardener and gardened in the same place the previous year. "But wait, I, as an experienced gardener, use the back to Eden method or blah blah blah. I don't need to clean anything." Maybe... or maybe not.

Why the need to clean up an area? Well, I can't speak specifically for you, but I can tell you what it has been for me. For one, while I have a large front and back yard where I live, I can't say the same thing for everyone. Many people who may want to garden might not have that much space. I wanna say I have half an acre but I'm not sure. Even with that, I still want a backyard to run free in for when kids visit or whatnot, and I especially don't want to have everything just be a muddy mess in the spring or over the winter after I am done gardening. Therefore, I keep a lawn (organically treated), though, in the event of the apocalypse, I can see myself easily ripping it all out and growing nothing but food. For now, it works fine.

What does that mean? Simple! I confine my gardens to small spaces. I have figured out a way to maximize the space while maintaining a sense of beauty. This, however, does make the space pull double-duty during the off-season. The same growing space during the season, I use as the dumping ground for my compost over the winter.

To weigh a few pros and cons, one of the big pros is that using the same space where I will plant as the place to put my winter compost is beneficial to the ground. My compost consists mostly of leaves, grass clippings, coffee grounds and food waste, a lot of which comes from last season's uneaten edible garden waste. This means that I don't have to put down a tarp underneath and worry about the ground staining, I don't have to have a barrel or a tumbler that will be too heavy to turn if it gets snow on it. It also means that as the compost sits on the ground, regardless of whether it is actively hot composting or not, it draws bugs from the ground.

This was the same compost pile after a week. Notice the darker color and fewer discernible leaves.

Huh? But, it doesn't do that in the winter, right? Wrong. Even some experienced gardeners still believe that when the compost has gone completely cold, it supplies no nutrients for the bugs and insects that break it down, nor warmth for them to stay close to the surface. In fact, I've found the typical earthworm will still stay not only close to the surface, but will crawl deep into the center of the pile even as it has gone cold in the middle of the winter. Granted, all of the bug and bacterial activity will slow; however, that creates a great petri dish for the thing that many gardeners are missing in their soil: fungal activity. That's right, we forget in all of this bacterial melee to invite the fungi to the party. Ha! I just made a gardener's funny. It's a classic joke. You didn't laugh? Well, you'd have to be a gardener to--oh, you are a gardener? Right. I forgot. Well, you probably just need to grow your sense of humor to include more stupidity. Moving along.

You ever left something like rice or a cooked food in your fridge for too long, then came back and found it all moldy? Well, actually that is not just mold growing on there, but a mixture of fungus and bacterial spores. As Frankenstein once said, "It's alive!" However, good fungus, unlike most good bacteria, can still thrive in colder temperatures. They like it wet, but then again, don't we all? Eww! Did I just make a dirty joke in the middle of a compost post? No! Get your mind out of the gutter.

See, when you stack your compost up into a big pile over the winter (again, no less than 3x3x3 feet) and you turn it a few times before it gets too cold for you to go out and do that, especially after your Aunt Anne came over with her homemade heavy-as-a-newborn-baby fruitcake and lovingly forced you to try some, and you know you can't turn Aunt Anne because she so old that she dated Methuselah and watched God create dirt (#HappyPalmSunday to you Christians out there), and somehow, with her bony Skeletor hands she mixed, chopped and baked her way to holiday delight, when you come back to that pile in the spring, you see all of these really dark leaves that haven't been composted but changed. Most people will automatically assume, well, that's because they were close to the bacteria, but in actuality it was the fungus trying to break them down and survive, spreading their spores and hoping for a spring rebirth. Unfortunately, that rebirth rarely happens because as soon as you come out, what do you do? Turn the pile again, bringing in the bacteria which then heats it up and destroys any and all fungus. So that, my friends, is another benefit to composting on the same ground where I'll be growing: the fungus will remain in a thin layer of leaves and soil when I move the pile.

Unfortunately, it is that last part of that long paragraph that is the biggest con or psuedo-con. Before I can plant anything, especially cold-hardy veggies that can thrive in the cold dampness of Northeast Ohio in March, I either have to move the compost out completely or simply start everything in doors. The big problem here is that since it was winter, it took longer for the pile to warm-up, meaning that it took longer for it to break down, meaning that even with some of my best efforts, I still have a half-decomposed pile of organic waste sitting in my gardening space.

Even worse, because I have composted over the winter instead of the summer, my cold-hardy plants will get little to none of the new compost because it's still a month away from being ready. Therefore, I tend to move the compost to the lawn for about two to three weeks as I prepare my gardening space. Now, I say that this is a psuedo-con because of the fact that if you are winter composting and want the compost for the coming season, chances are that you will have to move or flip your compost the first chance you get in spring anyway. At least with my method, you may not have to transport it to a far-off location from it's bin to the place in the garden you'll ultimately need it. Also, I've found that taking a look at the ground on which your compost sat during the winter is a great indication of your garden's health. When peeling back this year's garden pile, I found a ton of worms having an, uh... well, a very, um... well, they certainly were enjoying #HappyInternationalHappinessDay in their own little way. This means that while the ground was cold, they stayed warm enough to not only continue eating and making vermicompost throughout winter, but my spring will be filled with a ton of new baby worms ready to make my garden amazing (#MakeMyGardenGreatAgain).

The question now is, what do I do for gardening prep? Well, outside of clearing out any overwintered weeds, I also check for potential drainage problems. Heavy snow or rains, the ground freezing and unfreezing, and animals or bugs making large divots in the ground during the winter can wreak havoc on the next year's growing patterns. You might have had a fantastic soil last year using mulch, leaves or the Back To Eden gardening method (if you're a beginner and have never heard about it, don't worry about it now, I'll talk about it sometime later in the season), but due to the things I mentioned, a great deal of your good soil could be washed away this spring. That's why it's so good to check. Also, during this time you may want to take a soil sample if you're a beginner or this is only your second or third time doing this. Soil samples can tell you the pH of your soil and alert you to any mineral deficiencies you might have that will effect your plants later in the season.

As you can see, I have my tarp laid on the lawn to the left with the pile. 

Lastly, I tend to use this time to burn anything from the previous season that might not have broken down at all or that I suspected had diseases. Leaves I never composted and don't plan to mulch, some food waste that's hard to compost like bread or egg shells and sometimes even some junkmail. Note: The junkmail burned is not put into the food garden but into the ornamental gardens in the front or at the very back of the house. White envelopes can contain chemicals that may be harmful in large doses to both the plant and to you. It should also be pointed out that burning stuff can add a minimal amount of pollutants into the environment which is why it should only be done once a year, if at all. Consult your local environmental office (usually you can also ask a police officer) to see if it is legal to burn things in your area.

To conclude, compost is a great benefit to your soil even before it has finished. While nothing or few things are out in the garden now, take this time to either start a compost or finish your winter compost, keeping close watch over it in the coming weeks. With proper care, it should be ready for use come late April--planting time for most people.

What do you think? Would you still prefer not to compost as it gets too messy and you never do it quite right? Does it take too dang long when you need it right away? Or are you a big proponent of composting? If so, where do you compost: on the spot or in another area? And why do you do it where you do it? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).

Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend. #AhStalking

If you’re looking for a scare, check the YA novel #AFuriousWind, the NA novel #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  the bizarre horror #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic and adult, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out NOW exclusively on Amazon; season 2 coming this summer. If you like fast action/crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.

Until next time, "It's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it! Whoa-oh-oh! Hi! I'm Mike Rowe, and this is Dirty Jobs."

P.S. Sigh! All this talk of dirt and composting and grime and gook got me so nostalgic for Discovery channel's Dirty Jobs. I really used to love that show. I watched nearly every episode. Ah well, I guess there weren't enough dirty jobs in America. I blame outsourcing.

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Maximizing Your Spring Vegetable Growing By Starting Inside #SeedStarting #VegetableGardening #Gardening #SpringPrep

Maximizing Your Spring Vegetable Growing By Starting Inside #SeedStarting #VegetableGardening #Gardening #SpringPrep

This was my garden at the very beginning of 2015, last season. Those colorful things at the left are lettuce.

Greetings readers and fellow gardeners and people who are just curious about growing stuff. Spring time has officially arrived, which means that you are already late in getting your garden together. Yeah, you're late. Feel ashamed! "Hey! That's rude." Alright, fine, reader. You don't have to feel ashamed... I simply reserve the right to pass harsh judgment upon you from a digital distance. But fear not. For while we all have our crosses to bear (Hi, Jesus; Ha! Easter shout out! Since I do believe, I'm probably goin' to hell for that one), know that it is never too late to start your preparations for veggie gardening dominance. Sure, you might not grow everything you want *cough* cold-hardy crops like potatoes *cough*, but you will be able to grow some stuff. The best way to get a seasonal head start is by starting everything indoors.

As stated in a few other posts, I live in Northeast Ohio (NEO for short. Yes, we are the one), which often comes with harsh winters. While last winter was fairly mild due to both global warming and El Nino (you can doubt one but you can't doubt both), it still had its own fashions of brutality. For instance, while all last week was quite warm--50s, lower 60s--Sunday, the first official day of spring, it snowed. Like... what? Complete and total ridicurusness! Just ridicurus! That makes it hard to predict if we'll have a killing frost to wipe out even some of my most cold-hardy crops, or if I can start throwing stuff like lettuce and broccoli out in the garden now. On top of that, I still have a ton of garden prep to do before the garden is suitable for plants. While I do that, I grow everything inside to give my plants a jump start.

"Well, that sounds simple," one might say. Sure, if you're not a first-time grower and have your very own grow room with thousand dollar lights, a wind machine and the whole shi-bang! But if you don't have that, or are a novice, it can start simple and get daunting really quickly. Having already put out the seed-starting post a week ago, I will now let you know what you need/should have before you begin transplanting those little germinated seedlings. Again, this is a companion post to the seed-starting post from a week ago. If you haven't read that, you can click on the #SeedStarting button in the title above.

To start, determine where in your house you can and will grow. A great deal will be determined by things that may be out of your control like light fixtures or plugs, temperature and human traffic. Other factors, such as how long you'll keep your plants inside will also weigh heavily on this decision and weather. For beginners that may seem like a lot and it kinda is, but once you get into a rhythm of things, it really isn't.

"God, your post are always filled with such dross and drivel. Just tell me what I wanna know!" Well, excuse me, angry reader, for trying to have a little playful banter before I start things. But I guess since you don't like all the foreplay, I'll get right to it.

The most important thing you'll need in growing inside is a light source. No, your windowsill won't do... yet. For one, while we've already done daylight savings, the earth doesn't know that. Days remain shorter than they will be in April and May, meaning that the seedlings which require copious amounts of UVs to grow large and healthy won't get as much as they should, especially through the glass pane of the window. Instead, what you'll need is a fluorescent light. It doesn't have to be a high-powered halogen, just a normal store fluorescent that you can buy at any home improvement store. I would suggest getting the longer ones as they will be better able to "feed" a large swath of plants. If you'd rather not mess with any electricity in your house, you can also just buy a separate light fixture or a lamp under which to concentrate the plants, such as this:

Excuse the dustiness. 

The above is a blacklight solo light uh... thingy (this came from Spencer's Gifts). The proper name escapes me but you get the gist. This can be easily screwed into the wall or stood on something and mad to shine down upon plants (just replace the bulb with a normal fluorescent). Get two of them, plug them in somewhere that will receive minimal traffic and you have yourself your very own grow room of sorts. Personally, I have a half-finished basement with a small room we use for the gym. In there, I have a long fluorescent light that's about two feet long, double-wide with two u-shaped bulbs. This gives me about 3 feet by 2 feet of space. You'll want about the same. Search google for fluorescent light bar plug-ins. Eon does have them I believe. You can also find them at Wal-Mart or home improvement stores. An easy way to do this is to get a cardboard box, buy one of those light housings and attach the light to the inside of the box like this:

Same light housing with the light pointed down; Replace black light with normal fluorescent and you're good.

I didn't fully attach it, but you get the idea. Also, if you got a regular lamp, you'll want to get at least two and be able to have them get close to the plants. No standing lamps that tower three feet over the seedlings. I cannot stress closeness enough. For me, though my lights are in the basement ceiling, during the seed-starting season I place all of my starts on top of my free-standing kick-bag, raising them to within an inch of the light--yeah, you want it that close.

Next, figure out the traffic situation. As the seedlings get bigger, they'll have few factors inhibiting superfluous growth, meaning they'll actually need stuff like a little wind and harsher conditions to toughen them. But when under an inch tall, they don't need any contact and do well in minimum traffic. That means no running or rough-housing near them. It also means no wildly varying temperatures from day to day. While your laundry room may have a fluorescent light already in it and you can manage to get a ladder up so that the seeds will sit close to the naked bulbs (undo the covering over the bulbs if you can), that still may not be a good place if you do laundry at a high frequency. Just make sure that when you do go to wash and dry your clothes you remove your plants for those hours.

Then there's growing medium. Here's where it gets tricky. As a beginner, I just threw seeds out into the dirt--and I do mean dirt--outside. I added one layer of store-bought soil and then willed stuff to grow. While I got a few lettuces and peas (the two easiest things to grow), I didn't get much else. Foolishly, when I decided to start stuff inside the next year I figured I'd grab some of that semi-dirt/soil mixture (it's all soil now, outside of the clay barriers) and throw it in a pot. Bad mistake. For one, you bring in any and all pests living in your soil, which can wreak havoc on seedlings. Also, the stuff is too heavy for growing inside. You'll understand why later.

Ideal growing medium is light and fluffy, ie. potting soil. But not just potting soil, you preferably want a seed-starting mix created for the specific purpose of germinating and nurturing seedlings. I use this:

They say specially formulated I think so they can get more money. It's only $5.00, though.

Yes, I know, it's Miracle-gro, but from what I've read it doesn't contain many, if any chemicals. It's mostly a shredded wood pulp/peat moss mixture. You can also use finished vermicompost, sand (though, only certain seedlings will do good with a pure sand mix), or sawdust. What you want is something that will retain water, but not be too wet. It needs to let water drain but it shouldn't be too rich in nutrients. Note: While I tend to use seed-starting mix for most things, I do have a few caveats for certain plants like carrots and onions which I will discuss in another post.

The second most important thing you'll want to figure out is what to grow in (and you thought the traffic was 2nd most important, or that I'd detail the first thing being the light, then never mention a second thing). While you can get away with so-so traffic and the plants can even survive an imperfect growing medium, both of those things depend heavily on the growing container. That's when these come in.

I am a big "Green" baby--erm, well... technically, I'm black but you get the idea. Any chance I can use to not only reduce, reuse, recycle but also help the environment and grow something, I probably will take. With that said, I still have fallen into certain dining habits. Two of them that are most prevalent in my home are: drinking bottled water and eating pudding/jello/fruit cups. Don't jump on me eco-warriors, I usually drink from the gallon water bottles, but we occasionally buy the single Aquafinas as you will see throughout the blog. Anything that isn't used during the growing season in some way gets recycled, and even after the growing season, I'll still rinse or watch everything out and recycle it. I'd also like to note here that while peat pots are nice, they don't provide as much stability when growing inside as you might think (also, they can be expensive). Same goes for homemade newspaper pots. While those are good for later in the season when you are two weeks away from planting, anything you have in there for longer than three weeks will turn into a mess. Trust me! So, any plastic container coming into your house has potential as a growing container and pudding cups or cut Aquafina bottles work best. Let me show you how I prepare them.

CONTAINER PREPARATION

Step one.

Wash them thoroughly. This goes for anything that you will be touching the seedlings to or with, including your own hands and any tools. You don't want to transfer any potential bacteria that could threaten them. I use a mixture of dish soap and two drops of bleach to clean any sweet gunk left over from the pudding/jello/fruit cups; water bottles shouldn't need washing unless you put something else in them after drinking the water.

Step two.

Let them dry out, or dry them out with a clean paper towel or rag. I usually let them air dry over the course of a few days, but feel free to pat or wipe them dry so long as they remain sterile.

See, the rungs? Count up four from the bottom. 

Step three.

Now, if you are doing this project with someone young like a child who hasn't handled sharp, non-safety scissors often or ever, you'll want to do this part for them as this can be dangerous. With a clean pair of sharp scissors (or a knife), you will want to pierce the bottoms of all the containers. Place the sharp points of the scissors down into the cup, open them as wide as they will go, then pierce the bottom.

To pierce, hold the sides, making sure your fingers are nowhere near the bottom, and you can either try pulling the scissors through the bottom, or put the container on the floor, place something soft but unimportant (a layer of Styrofoam is good; stack of paper works too) underneath then jam the scissors in. The plastic for most of these cups shouldn't be that hard and should pierce easily.

And there you have it, a growing cup ready for your seeds. I should point out here that if you are using Aquafina bottles, you'll have to cut them in half, too. For that, you jam a pair of scissor into the center first. I recommend puncturing the bottle either at the bottom of the label or count up four grooves from the bottom of the bottle. Then you can follow through with piercing the bottoms. As a rule, I want them somewhere between 2 and 3 inches tall. This will save on soil requirements later. You want two cups per every one plant you plan to have. For instance, if you plan on planting 5 broccoli plants, you want to have ten cups and germinate ten seeds. While that may seem like a lot, remember that you can always watch, disinfect and reuse them later in the season for when you begin your summer plants. This way, you can assure that you plant each vegetable one per container, which will eliminate the need for thinning out layer. Also, planting all ten plants will ensure that you have a selection of the strongest plants when you get ready to plant outside. Another note: The only vegetables I don't recommend doing this for are carrots.

But we're not done yet. The final important thing is to have a container for the containers. Those holes you cut in the cup bottoms are for drainage, but also for absorption. During the early growing stages, seedlings are prone to dampening off and/or being washed away, neither of which you desire. Dampening off is a symptom of a seedling that has been watered too heavily. Yes, new plants enjoy being wet and constantly thirst for water, but leaving them growing in a pool of soggy soil will kill them. They'll start to droop and eventually die, leaving mold spores behind. For this reason, we don't like to water from above as the water could not only stick to their leaves or make the soil too wet, but it could also wash them away, or make the soil bubble over top of the leaves, leaving you with a plant that wanted to live but died because of lack of light.

We want to water from beneath. Again, plastic containers come in handy here:

Above, I have the lid of a long unused water softener from a previous house. What is of note is its current utility. I washed and sterilized it just as I did the cups. I also let this air dry. Once I start planting things, I put the cups into the center of the circular reservoir and can pour water around the edges. The seed-starting mixture I'm using will wick the water up from the bottom, keeping the soil just wet enough for the seedlings to stay hydrated, while not washing them out. For your own purposes, what container you use will depend highly on how many plants you seek to grow. However, I would recommend the plastic containers that salads or chopped mushrooms from the store come inside--again, reusing and recycling. You can use a paint tray, too, so long as it hasn't been used for paint. Anything is acceptable here so long as it is sterilized, sanitized, can hold water and will not sit too high above the plants. If it sits six inches above the cups, then it could block the lights out or it could restrict air flow, both unacceptable. As far as watering goes, I'll talk to you about that in the post when we start transplanting from paper towels and plastic bags into these homemade pots. See you then!

Ignore the tomato plants, the secondary plastic container was a plastic salad container from the grocery store.

What do you think? Was that an unnecessarily long post? Did you find it informative? Are you a beginning gardener or an advanced gardener? If advanced, what tricks do you use? There are reasons why I do things the way I do them, but I couldn't smash everything into one post, just know that all questions will be answered sooner or later. As far as anything you might wanna say about this post, let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).

Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend. #AhStalking

If you’re looking for a scare, check the YA novel #AFuriousWind, the NA novel #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  the bizarre horror #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic and adult, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out NOW exclusively on Amazon; season 2 coming this summer. If you like fast action/crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.

Until next time, "If you can't reduce your waste, then reuse and recycle it. Do the world a favor"

The More You Know!

P.S. Ha! NBC. So preachy yet so informative. I can't believe they still do those "The More You Know" psuedo-PSAs. I just saw one about bullying. Good job for them.

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Starting White Potatoes, Onions and Carrots #VegetableGardening #SpringPrep #Gardening #SeedStarting

Starting White Potatoes, Onions and Carrots #VegetableGardening #SpringPrep #Gardening #SeedStarting

Gif From Google Spring 2016. I do not own the rights to it. 

"Damn, Michael! Back at it again with another spring gardening post. Damn, man!" Yes, apparently that got very famous, very quickly for, you know... purposes unknown. But as always, thankfully my timing is impeccable as I am exploiting it a full month after it went viral and the kid wound up on Ellen. Not gonna hate! Cheers to you, Daniel and your friend who is amazed by your shoes. If only all of this stuff existed when I was in school. Sigh.

Speaking of education, here's another post on spring gardening preparation (#SpringPrep). OK, admittedly, this should probably be part of your fall or even winter gardening prep, but for those of us who either garden until the ground freezes or just don't have the time to keep up with the garden during the cold bleak winter, or forget where we put certain things like tubers, this is a great way to make sure that you get to grow some potatoes, everybody's favorite food... except diabetics who shouldn't load up on complex starchy sugary foods. I'm so serious. Like, cut down... now!

For everyone else, feel free to start your potatoes immediately. A little tater background: white potatoes are part of the nightshade family. They share genes with tomatoes, peppers and eggplants (I'm probably missing one there, but can't think of it right now). For those with limited space, a plant exists which combines tomatoes with potatoes, growing the maters on top and taters in the ground. While that would be good for people with small gardens or even doing container gardening, I have no experience with these plants and can't speak to their efficiency at producing an adequate potato crop. Why? Well, let me initiate you.

White potatoes, unlike sweet potatoes, do not vine. Instead, they grow up into what is called a tower plant (made that up, but it's apt). A tower plant benefits from a process called hilling (totally not made up, but sounds too simple). Hilling is when you build up the soil around the plant as it grows. For example, the plant grows to a height of six inches. Instead of continuing to let it grow and grow, you will hill up good, loose, workable soil around the stem and some (not all) of the leaves to about one inch from the top. This will cause the newly buried five inches of plant to send out more roots which ultimately can turn into potatoes as that is what they are, roots or tubers of a plant.

These Are Not The Potatoes We Are Looking For

I should note here that white potatoes, unlike sweet potatoes (pictured left) not only enjoy cooler weather, but require it to continue growth. They will continue growing until it gets far too hot for them around 80-85 degrees in the summer. They also take a long time to grow, the normal duration for full baking potatoes clocks in around 120 days. This, again, is why now is a good time to start them, or even earlier (zone 5 or 6 here people; Northeast Ohio; always check your zone for last frost dates). As I tried to allude to earlier, a common practice for many gardeners is to plant the potatoes in the late fall/winter garden, and have them go dormant during winter's coldness. This works well especially if you're not going to till the ground in the spring. The buried tubers can survive below zero temperatures in some cases and will still produce viable plants come spring. However, for the first time gardener who knew nothing of winter prep, or who doesn't have an already prepared garden bed, this method works best and you don't risk the potatoes rotting away in the ground. Not to mention, you don't waste a potato.

So, with all of that explained, here are the instructions. Note that this process takes quite a while to prepare in any case.

POTATO PLANT STARTING
You will need:
A potato with plant stemming already forming on it as explained in step one (see picture below).

Good, clean water. It can be from the tap, but let it sit out a day so some of the chemicals can die back.

I Am Not An Aquafina Spokesperson. I Already Drank The Water Inside And Reused The Bottle For Tap Water

Seed-starting potting mix (regular potting soil may do fine also, but make sure it is something loomy and light)

A knife or scissors, though you can do this all with your hand. I use my hand in the video but a knife in the pictures. Again, younglings just getting into gardening should do fine using their hands and fingers.

One small cup or container to grow in. (For more info on this, see a later post on how to prepare for step two after seed germination).

A fluorescent light that you can get very close to the plants. We're talking inches from them.

Bad Picture And the Plants Got In The Way, But You Also See The Closeness You Want To Achieve

Step one.

Those Strange Growths Are Called Eye Stems or Eyes

Gather a potato that you enjoy eating. While you can purchase them from the store, you must take care to either buy organic or check if there is any growth inhibitor sprayed on them. A good way to test this is to look into a bag and see if any of the spuds have what are called eyes, or the little white or green protrusions on the potato that are damaged or browned-out. This is the tuber trying to produce a plant. This is what we will be working with. Sometimes these can take a few weeks to grow to a good size on the potatoes, however, a good practice to make the process go faster is to put the potatoes into a clear bag in a place that will be partially exposed to the sun on a daily basis. Contrary to some opinion, this won't smother the root. Instead, it acts as a greenhouse bag similar to how I do the seeds. No water needed as the potato will draw moisture from the air.

This Is The Third Potato. I'd Recommend Letting The Eyes Grow Bigger

Step two.

Once the eyes are big enough (see the size above) you want to pull them off. Another good gauge for sizing the eyes is to look at the sides and see if there are rings of white nodules or bumps circling around the entire eye. These bumps turn into roots. Also, it is a good idea to make sure that the tips have shown some signs of greening or have closed leaves. In the video below, you can clearly see that the tips of the spuds look like a closed flower right before it blooms.

Step three.

Pick these eyes off, making sure not to squeeze it too hard. You can also cut it off, though I find that gently twisting it off works best. You don't want any of the potato left on the end, unlike other methods.

Step four.

Then, all you do is take that, make sure that the green or leafy-forming part is facing up, and you stick that little stem into a good seed-starting mix and water it. Put it under a fluorescent light as close as you can get it, and watch it grow. Try to give it at least eight hours a day. You want it to be no less than two inches tall when you transplant. That's right, they don't have to be very tall before you plant them. The great thing about winter plants is that you can start hardening them off almost immediately.

Very Small, But It Works. It'll Explode With Roots In A Matter Of Three Days If Healthy

What is hardening off, you ask? Getting a plant used to the rough outside weather. This is done by putting the plant outside for small increments of time each day. Start with two hours, then three the next day, increasing by one hour every two days until they show little to no stress (droopiness, dying leaves, etc.). You only need to do this for one week with potatoes as they should be hilled immediately when going into the ground. But that is another post.

A note, I know the title mentions carrots and onions, too. I really only tacked that on because I forgot to mention that onions are also a good winter crop, though they are one of the few winter crops that do well throughout the summer. With another long growing season at 120 days, they take a very long time to mature, and aren't often grown by home growers. But if you want to grow those, you should start them and carrots the same way as the bag method. Get a paper towel, wet it, throw the seeds on there, slip the towel into a plastic bag and put it in a warm place around 70 degrees and wait until they germinate. Carrots grow well with onions as the pungency of the onions keeps away certain insects and can deter certain animals, though not all. Stay tuned for the post-germination transfer of all the seeds into a growing medium coming in the next day or so.

What do you think? Will you try to grow your own potatoes? Do you have the space for it? Was there anything you didn't understand simply about the process of starting the potatoes? Again, getting them in the ground and further care will be covered in a future post, so stay tuned. Oh, and yes you can still eat the potato after you've gotten the eyes off, just avoid any green which should be very close to the surface if any has built up in the potato at all. Click the #SeedStarting link in the title to find the post on seed-starting as a whole. Any other questions about the starting process, let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).

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Until next time, "Spuds MacKenzie was just a cheap rip-off imitation of me." ~ Mr. Potato Head.

For Shame! For delicious shame!

P.S. Wow! So much wrong with that. First off, Mr. Potato Head, Spuds MacKenzie was a dog. Had nothing to do with potatoes. And second off, I sincerely question your validity as a spokesperson and role model for our children. You and your wife are shown eating--no, cannibalizing bag after bag of Lay's potato chips. What will you do next? Start eating french fries? Hmph! Indignant!

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