Volunteer potatoes?

[mrbadexample]

Hi all,

I've got volunteers popping up all over the place - wherever I grew potatoes last year.

Trouble is they are in with the beetroot, kohl rabi and cauliflower. What am I supposed to do with them? I'd like to leave them and get free spuds, but they're kind of in the way.

[Jamesy_uk]

Unfortunately unless what you have got in the ground is due out within a month or so the potatoes will swamp them and put them firmly in the shade before too long. I had a similar issue with my broad beans so I had to gently try and pull up the seed potato, where that wasnt possible I kept cutting the chits off until they didnt come back.

[taff]

I've got some appearing in the broad beans and I swear I dug that bed over twice to find the stragglers.....never mind, I'm resorting to pulling up the stalks as they rise, asnd then when the beans are out I'll dig properly to find them...

[Currysniffa]

I have them growing where my onions are, the areas been dug twice and rotavated once, I just pull them up and bin them.

[Kaiya]

If they are in an ok position I leave them, but if they are in the wrong place I dig them up or pull/hoe them if digging would upset their neighbours.

[Alison]

I always get some in amongst my beans and there isn't enough room for the to grow on or for me to dig them up so I just pull out the sprouts as and when I see them and it seems to work OK.

[mrbadexample]

Looks like I'm getting rid then. Thanks.

[Sanjo]

I dug one out of last year's potato bed in early April I think it was. It had a fair bit of green growth showing, so I carefully lifted it and planted it into a sack and it's growing away merrily.

[Florence Fennel]

I stopped putting potato peelings into my dalek for a similar reason - I used to have potato shoots popping up all over the place! Pull them out as soon as you see them.

[BarleySugar]

When I emptied one of my darleks I found a new potato, about the size of a creme egg. The shoot have come right up from the bottom, even with the lid on. I wish OH would remember we DO NOT compost potato peelings unless they are killed first (cooking or freezing). To be honest, I don't usually bother.