One of my favorite things during spring & summer is planting and harvesting our vegetable garden! Even though it’s pretty small…over the years we’ve had a lot of fun experimenting with new things and enjoying our tried and true favorites! There’s nothing quite like savoring a dish with veggies you actually picked that very day! And since we started planting we’ve always tried to make the vegetable garden something our boys could be involved with. When they were little it was so much easier to get them to try new veggies…especially when they chose what to plant and helped it to grow! And to this day, we all still take part in choosing what we’ll be planting–and picking–or digging up! One of our all-time favorites that we plant every year is potatoes! Our family preference is the red potato…and it always amazes me how they grow! I can’t get over that you can take some chopped up sprouted spuds, bury them–and they turn into mounds of beautiful potatoes that almost burst from the soil! Professional gardeners we’re not…but after a few years of potato planting we have cultivated some pretty nice crops! Unfortunately some of our other plantings weren’t as prolific this year…but the season must have been right for potatoes…or maybe we do actually know what we’re doing after all! They never go to waste ’cause we all LOVE eating them! Mashed, baked, in soup or stew, fried, hashed, or waffled…you name it, my family would probably like it! But our ultimate favorite…simply roasted! it seemed a bit early this year but our potatoes were practically screaming to come out of the ground…so we did a bit of digging and then went directly to the kitchen and roasted up some tasty taters!
from the garden to the table…
an afternoon of harvesting gave us a load of potatoes…and some bigger than we’ve ever seen in our garden so far! a fun veggie to grow and pick…or dig in this case…making it a favorite of the boys to gather from the ground! i never hear complaining when it’s time to dig potatoes…boys, dirt, shovels, and something to eat later–need i say more? so when the plants start looking like they’re dead…and you can sometimes see potato skins peeking from the ground–it’s time to dig!
place your shovel out far enough that you don’t slice the potato when you begin…but no matter if it happens, a little cleaning & trimming will do the trick so you can still use it!
a gentle lifting of the soil and you’ll find ’em…
these were all under one plant…that’s a lot to us in our tiny garden!
a basket full of dirty potatoes…you know they’re fresh! i’d already made two batches of roasted potatoes before i remembered to take this photo! so we actually had several more than shown here. i’m estimating that we had approximately the equivalent of 3 medium bags from the store…a nice way to save a buck or two! it’s not a good idea to wash the potatoes unless you’re going to use them right away. i dust them off and leave them dirty ’til we’re ready to eat them!
so pretty all cleaned up! such a great color…
my favorite way to prepare them…chop into small cubes and toss in a roasting pan…
i like to drizzle a little canola oil and sprinkle them with this yummy garlic seasoning! i find Johnny’s Garlic Spread Seasoning at Costco and it is a pantry staple at my house! delicious on any roasted vegetable as well as making garlic bread…and let me tell you that your house will smell HEAVENLY if what you’re baking is sprinkled with this seasoning!
bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes or so…
when they’re done they’ll be nice and crispy…and a delicious & healthy addition to any dish!
from the soil…to the oven…to the table!
…i mentioned we had a couple other goodies in the garden…some successes and some not!
pleased to have more cucumbers that we can eat…
some celery…looks good!
but this is our only tomato! i had to include a size reference so you could see how pathetic this lone little fruit is!
…i guess he’s still fresh though!
what’s growing in your garden?