Bizarre Fruit

A few days ago, I popped out to water my potatoes and was really surprised to notice some tomato style fruits growing.  The plants had recently flowered and the "tomatoes" had appeared from the flower buds.  As this is only the second year I have grown potatoes, I still don't have much idea about them.

The more I looked at them, I suddenly remembered my growing attempts last year.  Having brushed against the plants a bit too much, I developed a really bad, itchy rash on my arms.  When I went to the chemist, the pharmacist told me that potatoes belong to the nightshade family which also includes, amongst others, tomatoes, aubergine and deadly nightshade.  Obviously, some are more toxic than others!

Suddenly the fact that my potatoes were growing tomatoes made perfect sense.  Obviously we view the bulbous root of potatoes as the vegetable but the plant also sometimes produces small green, tomato like fruit as well.  Having investigated further, apparently the potato fruit has quite high concentrations of poisonous solanine, so best avoided.

Potatoes & Plant Pots

No matter how small, or large for that matter, your garden, you can always add interesting features using different planters.  As long as it has drainage, you can use pretty much anything you like to put plants in.  Obviously the size of the planter will dictate the plants that it can accomodate but otherwise, the possibilities are endless.  As well as various shapes and sizes of pot, I have used a pair of old work boots in the past and even had a small pond in a half barrel on my patio.  It was so successful, a frog moved in!

Two of my favourite planters at the moment are a pair of chimney pots and my woven witch hat hanging baskets.  I like hanging baskets but I find the usual half sphere ones a bit traditional.  I found a pair of witch hats at the local dump a few years ago, so recycled them into my garden.  Salvage yards are a perfect place for finding unusual planters too, such as old kitchen sinks.

The chimney pots were a great find.  I have always hankered after a couple but they are really expensive and much sought after.  You can imagine my absolute joy when I found a couple for sale in a local charity shop.  They look fabulous planted up with the purple and white Senetti.  Notice anything odd though?  Well, if you look really closely, you might just notice that the chimney pots are moulded plastic and not terracotta!

The potatoes and onions I planted a few weeks ago are really starting to take off.  Both varieties of potato have come up and true to form I have no idea which is which!  I think the ones at the top of the photo are the salad potatoes.  I'll find out when they are harvested, so no worries.  I was going to plant another batch but I think it is too late.  The seed potatoes in the shed seem a bit soft and I am not sure I can be bothered to be honest.

The onions have also all come up.  I planted them deeper that last year and earlier I think, so I have high hopes for them.  I will definitely plant some more in pots on the patio in a few weeks. 

Really need to crack on with the salads too now that the weather has perked up.  Hopefully I will have a bumper harvest!

Container Vegetable Gardens

No matter how small your garden, even if you just have a window box, you can have a vegetable garden.  You can grow so many vegetables, particularly salads in containers.  I quite like growing mustard & cress, alfalfa and mung beans in dishes in my kitchen, as well as herbs on the window ledge.  They are all so easy to grow.  You just need to scatter the seed onto some wet kitchen towel in a shallow dish and leave them to it.  As long as you keep the tissue moist, you will have a harvest in a week or so.

Last weekend, I finally managed to get my potatoes in.  I am definitely a fair weather gardener.  The potoatoes could have gone in between February and April but it was too cold, wet and windy for my liking until last weekend.

Having bought the seed potatoes weeks ago, they have been sitting patiently in my kitchen, happily sprouting.  I think this may have been good though as someone told me you are supposed to let them sprout before planting.  Needless to say, I have no idea.

I grew some potatoes for the first time last year.  I always thought you needed a large vegetable patch to grow potatoes and then discovered by chance you could grow them in barrels.  I found a polypropylene barrel was available which seemed ideal as it could be easily stored when not in use.   The barrels have handles at the top so that you can shift them around and a flap on each side at towards the bottom which you can open to harvest your potatoes without disturbing the plant at the top.  The flap simply stays closed with Velcro.  I ran a copper band around each barrel to stop slugs crawling up to the plants.

Planting is so easy, you simply fill the bottom half with compost, pop in your seed potatoes with the sprouts upwards and then cover with more compost until the barrel is about 3/4 full.  One barrel can take 3-4 seed potatoes but I put 6 of the salad variety in as I figured the potatoes are smaller and will take up less room.

I was quite surprised at how well my potatoes did last year, despite me forgetting to water them half the time!  I don't even know what I grew last year, they were red ones, that's all I know.  One important thing I did discover last year though is that I am really allergic to potato plants!  Having spent an afternoon brushing past them on the way to the shed, I came out in a really itchy rash that nearly drove me mad.  When I went to the chemist for some cream, I was told that potatoes are related to Deadly Nightshade and can cause highly allergic reactions.

This year, despite the late planting, I am trying to be a bit more organised with the potatoes.  I have bought two varieties, Red Duke of York and Charlotte salad potatoes.  I can't remember which barrel is which but I will find out when I harvest them.  I don't think I need to know - hope not anyway!

I also tried my hand at growing some onions in plant pots last year too, which were quite successful.  For Christmas my parents-in-law gave me a wicker planter which I have decided to use for my Red Baron onions this year.  The wicker surround is partly decorative and also helps to keep the polypropylene liner in shape.  The liner is split into two sections, so you could grow a couple of vegetables in them.  Again, when not in use, the planter just folds down flat for easy storage.  Each section measures about 45cm square, so it does not take up a huge amount of space.  You could easily place it on a balcony or on a patio.

As the weather improves, I will be planting more vegetables in containers.  I will put some tomatoes in a grow bag, salad leaves in a hanging basket (away from the slugs!) and I may try some runner beans in a large pot too.

Gardening Calendars

If you are anything like me you won't have the first idea about when to sow anything.  Last year, I went to the garden centre on a whim and decided to try and grow potatoes for the first time.  I was obviously far too late as practically all the seed potatoes had gone and I ended up buying six small and wrinkley potatoes that were already starting to sprout tubers.

I didn't even have anything to plant them in and had to hastily buy some potato barrels for them.  They turned out rather well, with no help from me.  The largest potato was bigger than my fist and that was with me forgetting to water them most of the time!

Anyway, I can't remember the variety (they were red potatoes) and I can't even remember when I bought the see potatoes and planted them.  (You can see why I am now writing a blog for myself!)  I suddenly realised what I needed was a quick access gardening calendar.  I could trawl through my gardening books but sometimes you want a quicker answer.

A quick search on the internet and I found Garden Action's website.  It is perfect!  A real mine of information, including the all important vegetable gardening calendar.  According to that, I am fine for now but need to plant my potatoes in March.  All I need to do now is remember!

If you want to take a look at the site, the link is http://gardenaction.co.uk .