Last year I grew potaotes for the first time in a potato barrel, pink fir apple. I had reasonable success but thought I would try a different potato this year. After reading this forum I decided on red duke of york, however, before I had chance to plant them I noticed that there was some growth in the barrel.
To put you in the picture, following last years harvest I have pretty much ignored the barrel even using it as somewhere to dump the overgrown courgettes!!
Now, I have a very strong growth, flowers n' all. I haven't planted anything at all in there and what is growing is defintatley some type of potato.
My questions are a) what should I do? 2) what should I expect?
All comments and advice will be thankfully received.
This sounds most definitely like 'volunteers', ie potatoes growing from seed left behind from the previous crop. You will get these growing almost anywhere you have had potatoes, as it is almost impossible to ensure the ground is completely cleared. Fortunately, the plants are extremely easy to deal with.
You will get a crop of presumably PFA since that was the previous plant. Free potatoes in my book, if the soil is not being used for anything else.
Free potatoes - sounds good to me - thanks