Garlic and Potatoes

Why Garlic and Potatoes?

I've been on a quest to master the art of growing garlic, and potatoes are simply fun for children to grow and harvest.
This quest to grow garlic began in 2017, when I planted the first garlic crop, in the Reeves-Reed Arboretum's Square Foot Garden, and harvested dismally tiny garlic bulbs, in the summer of 2018.

The second planting of garlic was truly more successful. Varieties of both garlic Music and Elephant garlic were sown on October 18, 2018, and the harvest was ready in July 2019. Over two dozen beautifully formed bulbs of adequate size and form, were harvested.

In April 2019, the children who participated in the Let's Get Growing - "Get Digging Get Dirty" program sowed seed potatoes. To the delight of the children, the education staff, and myself included , in July 2019 the crop was ready, and approximately 9 pounds of yellow and purple potatoes were harvested from the Garden.

Combining the two harvests , the children who recently participated, in the Summer "Food Explosion Cooking Camp", got the chance to use both crops, to cook culinary recipes from around the globe. They practiced their knives skills, by expertly mincing garlic cloves, and skillfully cutting potatoes.

Coincidently, Peru the birthplace of the first cultivated potato, was one of the culinary destinations of the cooking camp this year. And the children made a delicious recipe called Pollo Saltado with fries, which is a popular Peruvian stir fry meal, which calls for French fried potatoes. Yum!

The garlic and potatoes harvested from the Arboretum's garden created memorable and tasty food experiences for the children.

One of the participants in the food explosion cooking camp exclaimed "These are the best fries I ever tasted!"

Wishing you all, Happy Gardening!