h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Our compost heap often produces surprise shoots. This year we even had some tomatoes, presumably from pips thrown out having germinated. My husband would never voluntarily plant tomatoes as he's allergic to them.

Courgettes also self-germinate, and potato peelings invariably produce lovely healthy plants (Some of you may have seen Matt Damon on Mars by now.....)

Anyway, every year we have about a quarter of the vegetable patch planted with these rogue seedlings and usually get enough spuds for a few meals out of it.

But this year, the first plant produced a huge trog full of potatoes, and some of them are bigger than cricket balls. No idea how that happened!

PS - it's gone midnight here so it's officially the 8th of the month, even though in the UK it'll be another 45 minutes yet. Sorry.

Next year I want to try growing potatoes in front of my house.

[ Amy P ]

Excellent

My dad grows potatoes in a purpose designed grow bag each year, and he always strives to get big ones with little success, but he obviously tries too hard, judging by your achievement!

Could he hope to grow little ones with big success?

The small, new potatos, early season ones my Dad sometimes grows are just gorgous with salads etc (are they the ones also soemtimes called salad potatos I think? maybe...) anyhow... he often seems to get the best results of all simularly from the non-planted random masses of ptoatos that come out of the compost heaps

I read that, the more eyes per chunk of potato, the bigger the individual potatoes you grow will be. *After* I cut the seed potatoes up, of course... My harvest seemed to bear this out.

yes, probably indeed paulh!

That is interesting about the eyes - I'll have to make a note to check that next year... Makes sense that the potato plant will likely have more roots then so can pull in more water and nutrients