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Gardening

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Should I just bin these potatoes?

3 replies

allgoneaway · 14/03/2022 08:58

I moved house in haste last summer. Family issues meant I've not had a space minute since.

I took my potatoes growing in those black sacks you can buy with me. When it was time to harvest I took off the greenery that had wilted but did not have time to empty the sacks and harvest the potatoes.

Instead I just put the soil/potato filled sacks in the shed where they have remained ever since.

Is it way too late to do anything with them other than Chuck on the compost heap? I haven't even looked at them yet (under piles of cardboard from Christmas!).

Hoping this year I'll have more time to garden properly!

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SquishySquirmy · 14/03/2022 09:08

Check them... they might be OK to eat!
It's been a mild-ish winter, and they have been insulated by soil.
So they might have escaped frost damage. They wont have grown to full size if the foliage was removed early, but the small potatoes that developed last year may still be OK.
Better to check them now though, as if you wait too much longer they will start to sprout.
If they have been frost damaged they will have gone rotten, but potatoes are hardy things. Some varieties store better than others, but in the past people used to sometimes store harvested potatoes in sacks of earth in outbuildings... ie the same conditions yours have been in!

MereDintofPandiculation · 14/03/2022 09:13

what you have is sacks full of over wintering storage tubers ready to spring into new growth.

Or from another view, you have a potato clamp - an earth covered heap used to store potatoes for winter use.

Empty out the sacks (gently!), chuck out the ones that have gone rotten or been eaten by slugs Then decide whether to eat or plant the rest.

allgoneaway · 14/03/2022 21:08

Thank you @SquishySquirmy and @MereDintofPandiculation maybe all is not lost after all!

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