a gardening blog

Back in January, I started a plant from a potato that had started to sprout in my veggie drawer. Since it was growing really well, I decided to transfer it to a new roomier pot and put it outside near the garden beds. I’ve grown potatoes before and its always lots of fun, because when you are ready to harvest them, it becomes a treasure hunt trying to find them.

Potato plant after 5 months of growth

I got my supplies together so that I could transplant the little guy to its new home.

New pot, potting soil, and the little plant

While transplanting it, I was loosening some of the dirt and found a small surprise waiting for me. The plant had already produced a small potato about the size of a fingerling.

I filled the new pot with about 3″ of soil and carefully put the plant and baby on top. I added more soil until it came up to the plant’s base. At that point I decided to add a couple more potatoes that had started to sprout in the veggie drawer.

I continued adding more soil until the potatoes were covered and about 3-4″ of the plant was left above the soil line. I put the pot in full sun and watered it. As the plant continues to grow, I will continue to add more soil. Always leaving about 3-4″ exposed. Once I get to the top of the container, I can transfer it again or leave it alone and let the plant grow naturally. When the plant starts to die back at the end of the season, just dump the pot over and hunt for the potatoes.

As you can see in the photo, I still have a long way to go before reaching the top of the pot. As you add more soil, it will send out more shoots and produce more potatoes. This process is called hilling.

Last summer, I was walking through Lowe’s and saw that they had a beautiful hanging basket of Hoya Rope (hoya carnosa compacta). I had been looking for this plant for a while and hadn’t had much success finding it. Although the price was higher than I wanted to spend, I decided to buy it anyway and give it a try. Ever since I got it, I’ve received lots of compliments from visitors to our house. I decided to try and propagate it so that I can give it away as gifts to my friends.

Hoya rope and supplies

• Hoya Rope
• Shears
• Rooting hormone
• Pot
• Soil-less growing mix
• Tall shot glass (no drinking in this tutorial!)
• Water
• Plastic baggie
• Rubber band

Step 1) Cut a section about 4-5″ long.

Hoya Rope Section

Step 2) Remove all the leaves along the stem, except for the top 1-2 leaves. Don’t throw out the cut leaves.

Leaves removed

Step 3) Place the stem in a shot glass full of water. I like using shot glasses because they help keep the cuttings vertical.

Cutting sitting in water

Step 4) Using the leaves that were cut off in step 2, dip the ends in rooting hormone.

Leaves dipped in rooting hormone

Step 5) Plant the leaves in a pot filled with your soil-less mix.

Planted leaves

Step 6) Cover the pot with a plastic baggie and place near a bright window, but not direct sun.

Leaves waiting to root

And now I will try and be patient while I wait for the little guys to start rooting. Hopefully, it will be a success and I can share this interesting plant with others.

If you were curious about how I made the mini-blind plant markers, here is how you do it.

Supply List:

• 1 box of mini-blinds
• Scissors
• Flat-head screwdriver

Once you remove the blinds from the box, turn it upside, so that you are looking at the bottom. You will see little tabs that needed to be popped off. You can do this with your flathead.

When you pop off the tabs, you will see some string that was pushed into the cavity of the bottom slat. Reach in and pull it out.

The string will look like a rope ladder.

Cut the “rungs” of the ladder. Doing this will make it easier to pull out the bottom slat.

Here are the slats that I removed from the blinds. Once I had enough, I put the remainder in box for the future.

I then cut each slat into as many markers that I needed.

Finished plant markers

It was easy and fast to do (about 10-15 minutes) and CHEAP!

I want to thank all of you that entered the Blogiversary giveaway. I am still amazed at the number of people who participated. Thank you so much for making it a huge success. I am happy to announce that the winner is…..Jamie T.

Jamie, I have sent you an email about how to claim your prize. Please contact me on or before May 14th.

After some careful consideration, I decided to create my own aStore at Amazon.com. I didn’t come to this conclusion lightly, since I know that it may turn off some of my readers. My decision was motivated by the cost of running my site. I didn’t want to advertise on my blog and thought that if I created an aStore, I could be more selective about the products I would list.

The products that you see are products that I have purchased, own, and use. I would recommend them to any of my friends. I won’t list products that I have not used or have proven to not work for me.

Just to clarify, this is just a group of products that I have selected and I do receive a small percentage on any purchases made through my aStore. I am not responsible for the processing, delivery, or manufacturing of the product. Any issues must be addressed directly with Amazon or its partners.

To visit the store, please click on image below.

Rusty Spade Shop