Crackin' crop

Like many people today I compost my waste. I have two compost heaps the first being the traditional variety ... my compost being housed in a wire mesh and wooden frame the second one is a plastic bin with slots in. I place as much as possible in both even egg cartons and it all gets 'macerated' down into beautiful rich dark brown compost that is spread about the garden usually once every year. I have had crops from my compost bins before but this one shows a huge potato plant that has sprung up from a tiny piece of peel.

Many years ago, I used to know a woman who deliberately spread her potato peelings around her garden in every nook and cranny wherever there was a naked bit of soil. Every year she would dig up pound after pound of beautiful, organic potatoes.

If you have spare soil in your garden this is one crop worth trying out - and it's free. Potatoes grow very easily from peelings especially if there are a fair quantity of eyes in the skin. Please remember to wait until after the plant has flowered before digging up the crop. NEVER eat the small green tomato looking fruits that appear where the flowers have been they are very poisonous.

Potatoes and tomatoes belong to the nightshade family which is why their flowers look so very similar.

Potato plant