Our purpose is to give you some fun and rewarding garden-related activities
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Hey Kids,
Now is the perfect time to start thinking about starting your own vegetable garden and Canadale Kid's Club wants to help you!
Have you ever wondered where the food on your plate comes from? Now you can learn about the whole process by planting, growing and harvesting your own food right in your backyard! Over the next few weekends, we will be offering a new garden vegetable plant, herb or flower plus lots of tips for you to get started in growing your own garden! Some of the food you'll learn about growing are:
*Potatoes
*Salad bowl vegetables
*Beans - green, yellow & purple
*Herbal Tea plants
*Tomatoes
*Flowers - just because every garden needs some
*Vines- pumpkins, squash or watermelon
Watch our newsletters weekly to hear about the activity every weekend.
Growing Potatoes
This weekend at Kid's Club you can plant your very potato plant. Learn how easy it is to grow lots of potatoes from just one small one or even just a piece of one - as long they have eyes (another word for buds). You can bring home your new potato plant in a bio-degradable pot to watch it grow inside until it's warm enough to plant out in the garden. Then just dig a hole and drop in the pot and all. The pot will break down and become compost!
Kid's Club runs Saturday & Sunday this weekend from 10am - 4pm.
How to Grow your own Potatoes
1. Transplant your potted potato plant so that the tuber (another name for the potato) is completely covered with soil. After planting, your plants will go through a number of growth stages as shown in the picture above, producing first roots, then stems and leaves, and finally flowers and tubers.
2. Add more soil around the base of the plants two or three times during the growing season. Keep them well watered, especially when they start flowering. Soil should be moist, not dry. But don't over-water or the leaves will go mouldy. It's best to water every 2 or 3 days.
3. To grow bigger potatoes, remove any flowers the plants produce.
4. When the plant's leaves turn yellow and start to die, stop watering. After two or three weeks, the tubers in the ground will be small "baby" potatoes, which you can harvest. For bigger tubers, wait another four to six weeks.
Harvesting
Harvest when the weather is dry. Loosen the soil gently, then reach under the plant to remove the tubers. If you want to store your potatoes, let them dry on the soil surface in the sun for an hour.
Store your potatoes on a shelf in a cool, dark, well-ventilated, dry place. Properly dried and stored potatoes keep well for up to six months.
Otherwise - serve them up for dinner that night!
Some Potato Fun for you...
Q: Why do potatoes make good detectives? A: Because they keep their eyes peeled.
Q: What do you call a potato after it's been sliced? A: Chip.
Q: How do you describe an angry potato? A: Boiling Mad.
Q: What do you get when you cross a potato with an elephant? A: Mashed potatoes!
Q: What do you call a lazy baby kangaroo? A: A pouch potato.
Q: What do you call a baby potato? A: A small fry!
Q: What happened to the potato dancing at the Halloween party? A: The "Monster Mash".
Q: Why shouldn't you tell a secret on a farm? A: The potatoes have eyes, the corn has ears, and the beans stalk
