Over the past few weeks we’ve been pulling what we thought were long-rooted weeds from our turnip and beetroot bed. The “weeds” seemed quite resilient and kept coming back, regardless of how deep we tried to reach down to pull the root. This was beginning to annoy us because the turnips are one of our surprise successes this year and we didn’t want their home to be invaded by something else. We therefore set about some careful excavation to resolve the issue, and it was at this point that the true identity of the weed was revealed…. It was a potato plant!
By way of an explanation, two important pieces of information are required: (1) we have never grown potatoes before and are therefore not familiar with the plants and (2) the turnip and beetroot bed is on top of what was originally a bean trench which had been filled with whatever we could compost over the winter months. A handful of potatoes must have gone in at some point and have subsequently been quite keen to pop their heads up.
Even though we’re not huge potato fans (we prefer pasta), we decided they had earned the right to be transferred elsewhere to live out their life in full. We therefore have five healthy potato plants settling in nicely. This will help us decide if we’re interested in this type of crop next year. We’d thought about growing patio potatoes this year but didn’t get round to it, although the problem kind of solved itself.
Brilliant…….I’ve been doing just the opposite, nurturing what I thought was a carrot plant left in from last year. Pulled it up yesterday to find it’s a weed!!
Sue xx
We had a similar problem with what we thought was a parsnip. It’s good to hear that other people have the same problem.
PS: thank you for the link on your site. I’m following your blog with interest.