Potato Surprise

(LOL) - OK, veggy gardners... I have to share my DUH moment with you.

I dug some holes this spring in preparation to plant some trees. I had a lot of compost stuff ready to go to the compost pile but decided to just toss the stuff in the holes.

Later I planted some oxalis rhizomes around one of the fledgling trees and then spent these last weeks being totally confused at why my oxalis were looking so WEIRD.

Well, luckily I have a friend (who is MUCH more of a green thumb) ask me WHY I was growing potatos around my baby tree. It took us a while but we finally decided it was the potato peels that I had thrown into the hole.

LOL... That is not the only place I graced with potato peels. I just sent my daughter out to water my potato patches....

I totally know my friend will be sharing this with all my co-workers. SIGH.

Potato peels sprouting... I never would of thought. I thought you needed chunks with eyes.

Bet that was quite a surprise! I've had potato peels sprout during the fall/winter when I just throw my compost directly into the garden and get hubby to disk it in every now and then. Never waited long enough to see if they would actually produce potatoes but I don't see why they wouldn't.

In hard times the old folks would plant potato peels. The peel does contain the eyes and if they are the least bit thick, enough potato to grow fine. Waste not Want not, they always told me.

NatureLover1950, it was a TOTAL surprise. We stood there arguing about this unplanned veggy plot. All I knew was it was NOT oxalis... He was adamant that it was potato and then the proverbial light bulb oh so slowly came on above my head.

Farmerdill, yeah I guess I do cut a generous amount of the skin off when peeling. AND the peels had sat for awhile in some water before I tossed them out....

HMMMMMmmmmm... There was a bunch of egg shells in that compost batch... Do I need to keep an eye out for something else? Cluck... Cluck... --- just kidding....

My story isn't nearly so cute. Last year I had several fingerling potato plants in a bed where they didn't do well. But, I dug what I could find, and enjoyed them. In late October (zone 5b) I had that area tilled, worked in amendments, and planted lots of garlic and shallots. Our winter temps can get down close to zero so they were mulched well for winter.

Last week as I was digging up stray dandelions from that bed, I noticed strange "weeds" growing nilly-willy here are there amongst the nice long rows of aliums and in the pathways. Today I looked closer, and they are fingerling potatoes!

Since I didn't plant them, no telling how deep they were, or what size pieces the tiller chopped and left behind. But, I'm going to add soil around them just like my regular potatoes planted in another bed and see what grows.

LOL, as they say darius, "Never look a gift horse in the mouth." I planted a nice long row of Pontiac potatoes the first week of March this year. We're eating them now and they sure are good! It's been a while since I had enough garden space for potatoes and I had forgotten just how much better home grown are than store bought! I tried growing under straw so I'm able to dig as we need them.

This is encouraging, because the squirrels have been digging in my potato patch and gnawing the potatoes. But they leave the skin.

LTilton,
Drive a stake somewhere close to your potato patch and put a fake owl on it. Squirrels are lunch for owls and won't come near them. Mine does a great job keeping them out of my fig trees :-}

I have one there, but I think they've caught on to it.

Do you move it around a couple of times a week? They will catch on if you don't. The other thing you can try is to buy the biggest, cheapest can of pepper you can find and sprinkle it liberally all around all the veggies they are digging up.

Or, sit a wire screen on top of your patch. The vines should find their way up and out, but the squirrels won't find their way down and in!