[GYO Girl]

I have a patch of garden that I have been using to grow strawberries on for the last 6 years, but last year's were really poor so I have moved them to another bed (and they already appear to be doing much better).  The soil they left behind is really impoverished, so I have been spreading the contents of my kitchen caddy over it and digging it in over the winter, thinking it might improve the soil a bit.   I now have 8 4" high potato plants that appear to have sprouted from the peelings, and they already have marble-sized potatoes appearing.

I'm very tempted to leave them for this year to see what happens - am I wasting my time, or have I been wasting money on seed potatoes all these years?

[DD.]

You've not been wasting money on seed spuds, as they are certified.

Growing from potato peelings carries the same higher risk of carrying over diseases as planting the whole potato.

[solway cropper]

A long, long time ago I learned not to put potato peelings or tomato seeds in the compost.....it really is annoying having spuds and toms popping up all over the veg plot.

[lettice]

Yeh, learnt that a long time ago, to not scatter the peelings on the ground or in the compost bin.
But I just whiz the potato peelings up in a mixer, so they are small bits, not seen a rogue potato growing.

[JayG]

Reckon it also depends on what you use to peel your spuds - my potato peeler only slices deep enough to remove the skin, so the eyes aren't generally left intact to produce shoots in the compost bin.

I would have thought that you are much more likely to keep the eyes intact using a knife (unless you just happen to be a brain surgeon of course!  )

[snowdrops]

All mine go into the compost bin,potato peelings,tomato seeds etc, I just weed any out that appear on the plot after all weeds are just plants in the wrong place for us gardeners
Not sure if it works both ways but it isn't recommended to grow strawberries where you've had potatoes recently or near to where potatoes are growing.

[Growster...]

You're lucky to get some plants from peelings, most of my Pentland Javelin just haven't shown at all...

:0/

And the compost heap is just covered in halms from last year!

Blight alert time for these volunteers?