The time of year for greens

The air is chilly. The nights seem frosty from time to time. Rain drops pop in every now and then. Yes, its the time for greens. But get them planted soon, because by May, it will be too late. If you love fresh lettuce in your sandwiches, or you like having lots of fresh greens around for salads, start growing them! They are so easy. Just throw the seeds on top a bag potting soil from the garden center or add a half a container of purchased mulch or old leaves to half a container of your garden soil, dust the top with a handful or two of the same soil, and within a few weeks, you'll have some seedlings peeking through. If it doesn't rain, remember to water about every other day. Greens will even grow in 3/4 sun, they don't need whole 8 hours of sun each day since about 6 will do.

Pony packs speed up the process

Or, to make it easier, just go grab couple of pony packs of lettuce from Home Depot or your local hardware or grocery store. Oftentimes, they use these packs as loss leaders to build traffic and very reasonable. There's a hardware store up the street that sells pony packs for about $2.00. You will quickly see how rapidly they grow and how tasty and delicious it is to have fresh greens handy. It will also cut down on your grocery bill. I started putting a small container in my sink...I put in coffee grounds, veggie scraps, banana and orange peels, etc. Then, say if I'm dumping out a glass of water that my child didn't drink, or a pot of water from the pasta, I just made, I'll dump it in the container. Then I have an easy way to get my lettuce or other pots watered without having to use virgin water from the hose.

Wanda goes after one of her favorite plants...the hollyhock.

What works and what doesn't for me

The only green that I can't seem to grow well here in San Diego is spinach. It just seems to take too much water for me to keep up with. After all, I'm not a bog gardener. However, I've had great luck with rocket (a fast-growing spicy dandelion-like green, swiss chard (both tender miniature ones and larger heads), asian greens including mizuna and daikon (but got mostly green parts...underground radish portions were pretty wimpy), collard and mustard greens, cabbage, kale, and all sorts of kinds of lettuce from butter lettuce to a green one with red freckles and even romaine (which takes a little longer).

One trick, though, is that rabbits also love them, so high raised beds will always be better or surround your greens with chicken wire, or try tall, wide pots. My kids at school and I have learned pretty quickly, that rabbits can take any green to the ground pretty fast. Rabbits do, however, leave the stub. As I have a rabbit, it surprised me when I learned that they don't eat the whole plant. After all, they want to come back for snacks later, so why take the whole thing down at the first try? My rabbit has continued to nibble at the low pot of greens that I grew at her level. She never eats it all. The past week, I bought a beautiful, huge purple cabbage from Home Depot and then the wind blew the container off the top of the planter...what a surprise when I found that the same day I purchase it, she had taken it down to a nipped purple stub...you'd hardly know it even existed. But somehow, it was still alive.

Kids love to sample greens...I'm amazed at all the different kind of greens the kids at school will try.

However, if you live in San Diego, get them planted now, because by May and June, it will heat up and the greens will bolt to seed rapidly. However, for now, we are still safe, and the greens will come fast and furious once they start popping up.  And if you miss it, there's always the fall to start again.

Kids and potatoes...they mix

Potatoes aplenty from my garden.

Face it. Kids love white food. The starchier the better. And potato recipes from au gratin to French fries to mashed are always a hit.

So, why not take on a project that kids are bound to adore? That is growing potatoes. Home-grown potatoes are really tasty and quite easy to grow. It's perfect for kids aged 6-12 in particular. You just need to use certified seed potatoes and avoid planting them in the same place two years in a row. Potatoes are prone to soil borne diseases, so by using certified seed potatoes you reduce the risk of pests and ensure they are disease free to start with.

I grow some each year. One year, we got the whole neighborhood involved in planting them. When it was time to pull them out (about 120 days later) we had a whopper of a crop. Every family that had pitched in to plant them got a bagful of the beauties.

Potatoes were discovered in Peru by the Inca Indians in 200 B.C. In 1537, the Spanish conquistadors discovered them in Peru and brought them back to Europe. The first potatoes arrived in North America in 1621. It's a perfect project to tie into 4th grade study of the history of California as they were planted in missions across California by the missionaries.

Digging them up is the best part.

How to Grow
Potatoes grow best in full sun, and prefer well drained soil. They like a slightly acid soil (ph of 5.8-6.5) so make sure you add some peat moss or some coffee grounds to the soil in addition to plenty of compost or manure. When you plant potatoes, soil should be evenly moist, but not soggy. Extremely heavy, wet soil can cause potatoes to rot. Winter is a great time to plant potatoes in San Diego. Since plants begin to grow when weather is over 45 degrees, we can grow potatoes both in fall and in winter. They also tolerate a light frost. A great time to plant them in Southern California is just after a light rain. They also do well in large oak barrels or even black plastic containers. Gardeners Direct offers potato grow bags which can be reused. However, you must clean the bag when you are done to get ready for the next season.

Get the kids to put potatoes on a kitchen window sill about a week before you plant them. They will begin to sprout and kids will enjoy watching the daily changes. You can cut then cut the certified seed potatoes into smaller chunks that are 1 1/2-2 inch cubes and make sure they each have one-two eyes on them and plant them about. You can grow potatoes in mounds with 6-8 chunks spread within a 2 foot by 2 foot mound or you can grow in rows about 15" apart. Once the potatoes are about 8 inches tall, have the kids mound the soils up around the stems. Then, a few weeks later, do another mounding about half-way up the stems. You will need to water 1 to 2 times a week or less if it rains.

Ensure that the potatoes themselves are covered with soil. Potatoes that are exposed to sunlight can turn green and may become toxic. Also, children should not eat the green potato leaves as they are toxic, so be sure you are doing this project with kids that understand what should and shouldn't go into their mouths.

Dig up the potatoes 2 weeks after the plants finish flowering. You can also have the kids just dig down an pull out a few potatoes without tearing out the whole plant and the potatoes will continue to grow.

A few great places for to buy certified seed potatoes are Wood Prairie, Burpee Seed Co., and Territorial Seed Co.