On May 3 I will host Lori Z. Scott's book blog tour, and you will have a chance to win a copy of her book "Meghan Rose Has Ants In Her Pants", a cute book for kids.
I asked Lori for a garden related tip and she came up with 2 good ones which I share here.
Lori wrote to me that Meghan Rose has a song in her head, stars in her eyes, and now she has ants in her pants. All because Meghan just has to own a pair of "K-K-K-K-Kangaroozies!" She saw them on TV, and now she can't stop thinking about them! But how can she ever get a pair? Don't worry--Meghan ROse always has a plan! But will God help her plan to work?
So here's where the potatoes come in. In the book, Meghan hatches all kinds of ideas to earn a pair of Kangaroozies. She decides to sell cookies or lemonade, but her mom doesn't have those things at home. All she has is cans of soup, etc., and a sack of potatoes. Meghan takes the potatoes to school, draws faces on them with permanent marker, and sells these Spuddy Buddies at recess. Since it's such a fun thing to do (trust me, I've had college students do it and they love it!) one of the activity suggestions at the end of the book is for readers to create their own Spuddy Buddies. What comes next is what relates to your gardening theme--planting their Spuddy Buddies once they sprout.
Directions...
When your Spuddy Buddy starts sprouting, it’s ready to have babies! In depth planting details can be found at http://www.gardengatemagazine.com/extras/52potatoeplanting.php .
The steps can be summed up as follows:
1. Have an adult cut the potato into 1 inch chunks, each chunk with one eye.
2. Let the chunks air dry for 24 hours.
3. Plant the chunks facing eye up into loose soil in a well-lit, dry section of the garden.
4. Build a 6-inch mound of mulch over the plantings.
5. Water lightly.
6. Put additional mulch around the vines each time they grow 6 inches.
7. After the potatoes flower, they can be harvested. Sift through the mulch until you uncover a potato and snap it from the stem.
2 comments:
I wish I had pictures of all the clever potatoes kids (and adults) made. One made "Darth Tator" and another a caped superhero. It really is a lot of fun! And since we're talking potatoes, here is a potato joke. (Not a good one, but I'm working with a theme here...)
What does a pirate potato say when given an order? Eye-eye, Capt'n.
This reminds me of the time a neighbor boy and I dug up what we thought were "wild" potatoes. Turned out they had been planted by another neighbor who hadn't taken care of his garden and let it get overgrown with weeds. Mom made us return the potatoes.
Great ideas Lori and Terra!
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