When Vegetables Sprout

Ever reached for a potato only to notice 1/2 in long sprouts protruding out of it?

Or how about those green sprouts that sometimes are coming out of our garlic cloves?

Do we still use them for food?... or throw them away?

Don't waste them, plant them!

My planting spree of this nature began with the garlic. When I bought it, it was at a good price, and I try to incorporate it in most of my savory dishes, not just for flavor, but for its wonderful health properties. So I bought 5 heads.

I didn't use them up as quickly as I thought I would, so towards the end of those 5 heads, some cloves were beginning some healthy looking green sprouts. Since it just so happened I had a small garden plot already growing sugar snaps, radishes and collard greens, Nut and I just poked some holes in the dirt of the same plot, and we planted our sprouting garlic cloves. We probably won't be harvesting them for garlic this year, but they will still grow shoots. Snip a shoot or two and chop for use in salads or dressing. They have a garlicky, green onion taste. Really good!

It was the same idea with some potatoes. Our neighbors gifted us with some yukon gold potatoes. By the time I got around to use them, many of them were seriously sprouting. Some of the potatoes were only sprouting on one end of the potato, so I cut off the end that was sprouting one inch from the sprout. I used the non-sprouting portion for dinner, and kept the sprouting end for planting. I did with this with the whole bag. Some were sprouting so well, that I just decided to plant the whole potato.

As luck would have it, we had just watched a video this morning where a lady was putting in her own potato garden. We learned that our potato starts needed to be planted 12 inches apart, so that's what we did.

We picked a spot in the back of our trailer site close to the fence, out of the way of where Tuckie likes to run and chase his stick. Nut did the digging and we planted our 12 plants. I can't wait. I have fond memories as a child, harvesting the new potatoes, watching them pop out of the ground from the coaxing of a determined pitchfork.

Please note: If you want to try this and you've never grown potatoes before, just remember that though the potatoes are safe to eat, the greens of the plant are poisonous. If you have pets that like to chew on plants, you may want to consider fencing your potato patch to keep your favorite critters out.