Chitting - It's Not What You Think

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(telephone ringing)

Me:  Hello!

David:  Hello, love of my life.  I hired a babysitter for tonight.  How about you and I go out for a date and do something fun....just the two of us?

OH, ALRIGHT!  He really didn't say that.  A girl can dream though.  Let's try that again.

(telephone ringing)

Me:  Hello!

David:  What are you doing?

Me:  Chitting potatoes!

David:  WHAT THE...???  You're what??  Is your phone not working right?  I thought you just said you are #$%^^ing potatoes!

Gardening has been a walk on the wild side for us the past few years.

In spite of growing up in families that had gardens at home, David and I were both a bit in the dark about the skills needed to grow a garden.

Each year we've worked a little harder

and gotten a little smarter

 and thankfully been able to buy at the store all the things we failed to grow in our own garden.

But it has been a lot of work, frustrating, overwhelming, a good learning experience for both of us.

We've tried to help the kids learn along the way with us.

Here is a very useful thing to do with your unused bag of fifteen bean soup beans after you learn that fifteen bean soup might sound appetizing to you but makes everyone else in your family gag.

Have a science lesson with the kids about how plants grow and how they begin their life cycle.

We talked about all of the things plants need to live.

We watched beans split open and sprout changing into leaves, stems and roots.

That led to discussions about how they drink and breathe and eat.

Not bad for beans that were never going to be turned into soup, huh?

Definitely novice gardening has had its ups and downs.

Some lessons we definitely learned the hard way through much hard work and very little success to show for it.

But once in a while we stumble upon a gem so fine that it makes the entire process worthwhile.

Such was my experience a few weeks ago.

While cutting seed potatoes to be planted in the garden I was dismayed to find many had already sprouted

Being a novice gardener I did the only thing reasonable.

I googled "seed potatoes sprouting".

What did I figure out from my internet search?

I had unintentionally and totally by accident

CHITTED POTATOES.

Yeah, it made me laugh too.

Chitting is the act of intentionally forcing potatoes to sprout before planting them in the ground.

Now I don't know about you, but I'm guessing I'm not the only one to ever find that forgotten potato or two lurking in the dark with sprouts all over it.

Who knew?

All that time and I didn't even know it.

I was a natural at potato chitting. 

I am a gardening ninja!

Good night, and happy chitting!!!