Surprise Harvest
When I was harvesting my garlic earlier this week I got a bonus harvest: potatoes.
Last year the area where the garlic was planted was used to grow a crop of potatoes. Invariably a few of the tiny potatoes hide in the soil, overwinter, and grow into small potato plants. They never produce heavy yield of potatoes, but you’ll find one or two small potatoes when you pull up the plant.
I ended up with a small potato harvest along with my garlic harvest. Since I happened to making a big pot of beef stew that day, I scrubbed them up and threw them in the pot. I’m always happy for an unexpected harvest of things I didn’t plant!
Do you ever have volunteer potatoes?
Filed under harvest | Comments (18)
I have a great volunteer potato store here: http://pleasantvictory.blogspot.com/2011/07/introducing-kenny-wonder-spud.html
Yes, we call him Kenny the Wonder Spud. I have high hopes for Kenny.
to Andreae's comment
I love how you used the crock to protect it! Good thinking!
to Rhonda's comment
What a timely post! How’d you know I was going to dig potatoes today?!! :)
to Melissa's comment
I don’t have any potato volunteers but I’ve got tomato volunteers everywhere! They’re all around my compost pile. I guess the discarded tomatoes and pieces of them rolled off the pile and made a little volunteer hedge. They’re also next to my back deck and along my fence line. I’m letting all of them grow just to see what we get. So far I know we’ve got some yellow pear tomatoes. To me, any food that volunteers to grow, is welcome to stay! I’ve also got a couple of sunflowers popping up right now in the middle of my tomatoes. I don’t know if they’ll have time to bloom before the frost comes this year, but I’m letting them stay and we’ll see.
to Rhonda's comment
Not potato’s, but onion and some kind of ‘mystery’ squash!
to Allison's comment
We have a cherry tomato volunteer and a bunch of butternut squash growing out of the compost pile. :)
We are thinking of starting a tea garden next season, do you have many plants that you dry and use in teas? Chamomile, mints (obviously), lavender, lemon balm, etc, etc. If you do, what sorts of “tea plants” have you found to grow well? Our climate is very similar to NE Ohio. THANKS!!
to harper's comment
Sounds like you have a great list going. In addition to these I also have some: bergamot (blue stocking), anise hyssop, catnip, lavender and catmint. I have a few varieties of mint: mountain mint, true peppermint (must get some from root cuttings if you want some true peppermint), spearmint, catmint. You can also add some nettles (or wild harvest them), alfalfa and red clover for their powerful vitamin & mineral components. I also have a good stand of comfrey, which I use for teas and healing poultices, read up on it and decide if you’re comfortable using it, personally I think it’s safer than taking OTC drugs. I also grow lemongrass, ginger, lemon verbena and lemon geranium in pots that come inside during the cold winter. There are some wild plants I harvest as well for teas: wild violets, creeping charlie and a few other wild herbs that abound here at Chiot’s Run. Don’t forget about the healing property of savory teas, especially when you have a cold. Rosemary, thyme, oregano, garlic and red pepper tea will do wonders for clearing up chest congestion and other baddies.
to Susy's comment
Great list!! Havent thought about making teas of some of these in years & years.. Thanks for the reminder!
to KimH's comment
That’s a fantastic list! I’ve thought about comfrey, but haven’t come up with a real solid opinion yet. I guess I’ll have to do some more research. Thanks so much for the great reply!
to harper's comment
We actually get a heavy yield from our volunteers! They’ve become welcome guests in most of the beds.
to risa's comment
No potato volunteers, but I read that one can dig and harvest the potatoes then replant them if there are still ‘babies’ on the roots so I did that this year. So far the plante are doing ok. I’ll just leave them in the ground now until the plants die back then dig to see what’s under there. The Bintje were mostly done so I only replanted one, but the Purple Viking had a fair number of babies still wanting to grow.
to Sande's comment
I have had them. My harvesting just wasn’t complete.
to MAYBELLINE's comment
I actually have volunteer potatoes in my chicken run. I grew potatoes there last year (and they were terrible), but I must have missed a few. It’s funny because the chickens have completely destroyed all other plant life inside their enclosure except for the tiny potato plants (they won’t eat them).
to Daedre Craig's comment
Nope, no potato babies for me.. but I do have little garlic bulblettes that grow all over the place. I just pull them off the bulb & replant them when Im harvesting them and then thin them out if they’re too thick in the fall.
to KimH's comment
I have TONS of potato volunteers! Tomato, summer squash, pumpkin, melon, onion, shallot and cucumber volunteers this year! I feel like my garden has doubled in size!
to Lynda's comment
Yes I did, which encouraged me to plant more. Potatoes are one of favorite vegetables to grow–I like digging for the treasure.
to Grace's comment
Are some of those All Blues? I just harvested baby ones on Saturday (my first ever potatoes.)
I accidentally let my leaf lettuce go to seed last year and gosh, it is everywhere now.
to Jaspenelle's comment
Yep, All Blues and some carola and I also got some Purple Viking.
to Susy's comment