Aren't potatoes supposed to be upright plants? Mine don't seem to think so. They prefer to fall over, lay along the ground and grow longer and longer . The potatoes are now starting to take over the garden. I was not expecting this.
Note the lighter colored leaves in between the potato plants near the bottom of the picture. That used to be a lettuce patch. I'm not too concerned about the lettuce since I have it planted in other areas as well, but the potatoes are now crossing a main pathway and are threatening Swiss Chard in the upper right of the picture and the broccoli/kohlrabi bed that you can see the edge of at the bottom of the picture.Not really sure what to do about this. The plants don't send down any roots where they touch the ground, so theoretically they are movable, but the stems and branches are somewhat delicate/brittle and if I tried to point the plants in other directions I'd probably do significant damage to them. The potato plants are just starting to flower, so maybe they will stop growing and start trying to make seeds/potatoes?
peter,
ReplyDeletewhen i was young and we used to grow potatoes we used the used those big sheets of vinyl that wrap into a colums and hook to itself. they are sold a compost bins but really aren't much good for that. they are the bomb for taters. the green bits explode out the top and fall down the side instead of taking over your plot. and harvest is as simple as unhooking it and letting the compost fall out and then just pick up the potatoes.
they will continue to spread the way they are.you can redirect them without too much harm. it takes a lot photosynthesis to make enough starch to make a potato. but then the potato just abandons that part of the plant come fall.