Green Onions: Growing and Freezing How To

Green Onions: Growing and Freezing How To

Hi everybody :)

We've talked before about growing potatoes (found here). Today I like to talk about green onions. Green onions is one of the easiest things to grow. The next time you pick up a brunch from the store, instead of throwing away the root ends, plant them. They WILL GROW; trust me. The picture below is my proof.

To Grow:

before picking 8/17

after picking 8/17

I picked my green onions, but left the roots in the soil, so they'll grow again and again and again, like a continuing garden of goodies. In about a month or so, this will be ready to pick again!

To Freeze:

onions, scissors and freezer bags

Freezing green onions is as easy as growing them. They do not need to be blanched (quickly placed in boiling water and then in cold); just wash them gently and dry.
Cut them into about 1/2 inch pieces.( I found the best way to do this is with kitchen scissors) Make sure the pieces are dry.

Place desired amount in freezer bags, label, date and freeze. They should stay fresh up to 6 months.

BTW,  Hubby surprised me by cooking today. He fixed a nice Chicken Casserole dish. Sometimes he likes to get in the kitchen and show off he's creative too.

I told him I was taking some pictures to share it with you, so here they are.

UPDATE PICTURE 8/23

UPDATE PICTURE 8/31

ENJOY! Come again....

Gardening - Potatoes In A Barrel

Gardening - Potatoes In A Barrel

Potatoes In A Barrel

Hi everybody :)

Do you love gardening? I do. The only thing I don't love about gardening is weeding. While pinning on Pinterest, I  stumbled upon a solution ...Drum-roll: container gardening! For example, did you know you can grow potatoes in a barrel? I sure didn't. When I saw this Easy Gardening System I knew I had to give it a try. 


 UPDATE NEW PICTURES:
Luckily I had an barrel, so all I have to do was clean it,  and get the PVC pipe.  To start, drill circles in your barrel about the mouth of a small drinking cup, making sure to space them out.(Unlike  hubby did in this picture, we learned the hard way)

Next, you will need a PVC pipe about a few inches taller than your barrel, make sure to get one with a circumference wide enough for a water hose.

Drill holes in your PVC pipe so water can reach your plants. Place pipe in the center of barrel. Add soil to hold the pipe in place. Do not put any soil inside the pipe.  Start adding potatoes seedlings thorough the holes as you continue to add the soil.

You now have your very own easy garden system ! No more weeding, YEAH!!!

about 3 weeks old

I decided to plant White Superior and  Russet Potatoes. I bought my potato seedlings and soil. And went to work. I was so excited to see how this would turn out. The picture above is how it looked after about a few weeks.

2 months old

As the weeks and months went by ...my potatoes grew.... and  GREW! Soon it was so big and bushy. I had to get something to help me prop them up. I was afraid some of the plant would get so big that the weight from it hanging from the barrel would cause them to break.  Some of them did : (  This is how it look after about 2 months.

potatoes in about 4 months

Freezing Potatoes

freezing potatoes

 Freezing potatoes is very simple. To keep the potatoes at it best, you would want to blanch them as soon as possible.  According to Wikipedia: Blanching is a cooking process wherein the food substance, usually a vegetable or fruit, is plunged into boiling water, removed after a brief, timed interval, and finally plunged into iced water or placed under cold running water (shocked) to halt the cooking process. After blanching, you would want to put them in freezer bags or containers. I think the bags are better because you can squeeze out the air before closing them or you can vacuum-sealed them. 

freezing potatoes

For more info about freezing potatoes go here.

ENJOY! Come again....