Do you still have some potatoes left in storage? If so, they most likely started to sprout. But no worries, they are still good to eat but on top of that, they are ready to be planted out. Here are 4 ways to use your last spuds up:
For eating: Just knock the sprouts off and then proceed as you would with any other potato. You can still roast them up with beets and carrots. We just roasted ours with some flax and sesame seeds on top. Just cut the potato in half, lightly cover with oil and then sprinkle the seeds over them. While they are roasting in the oven, mix some yogurt and sour creme together, add your first chives, chopped arugula or whatever other green you have. This makes a great dip for your spuds. We usually have a green salad with that.
Prepare a tea: This tea is great to help against acid reflux and in general to help with digestion. Cut a medium size potato in a few small pieces, add a teaspoon of whole cumin and a teaspoon of whole flaxseed (some people like a bit more cumin, others add more flax seed). Boil in 1L of water for 20 minutes. Drain and drink throughout the day, about 15 minutes before your meal.
For planting: There are many ways to grow potatoes. Either in your garden bed, tub or big planter, or even in a car tire. Which ever way you decide on, make sure there is good drainage. Keep about two good sprouts on each potato. When you plant them, keep the sprout poiting up of course, and cover with about 3-4 inches of good soil. After a few days, the sprout will have made its way through the soil. You can then cover the young plant with soil again and force it that way to grow more roots, which in turn should yield more spuds. This is why on the big field, we hill them up. Instead of soil, you can also use straw to cover them up while growing. You can spend quite some time on youtube, watching people work with potatoes and straw in their own garden. Here’s one to get you started.
Use as bait: Too many wireworms in your soil? Wireworms can be tough to get rid off, especially when turning a lawn into a garden bed. Since wireworms love potatoes, use them to trapp the little worms. Put a stick through the spud and burry it 4-5 inches in the field that you anticipate to plant in. The stick will serve as a marker. In 3-4 days, check your potatoes for wireworms and discard well away from your field.
