I was looking at my potatoes today thinking they should be ready to eat soon and noticed that some of the flowers had developed into mini-fruits not unlike the tomato.
It’s funny, as a couple of months ago on the “veg in the city” course at walworth garden farm the same subject came up when someone asked were the green fruits on the potato plant edible. Well the answer was a massive ”NO!” seeing that the potato is in the same family as deadly nightshade and I’ve just looked on the net and it says the potato fruit as well as the plant itself contains large amounts of solanine which is a well poisonous alkaloid.
I should have nipped out the flowers on the plants when they were on their way out so all the goodness would have gone back into the plant to make it’s tuber (ie. the humble potato) rather than making the fruit. Stick to eating the tubers!
A big shout to Scarlett for the useful bit of info on the fruit.
You are welcome! It’s good that you have flowers – everything is MIGHTY slow up at Magic Plot 7 this year. I put it down to a combination of terrible weather, bonkers temperature fluctuation and the horrible negative energy from the vile neighbours and useless council earlier on this year.
It’s time to do some clearing spells on the magic land!
Hi Scarlett. Definitely! Slugs seem to be doing well this year too, they’ve gone through all the Dahlias I got from the Hormiman’s plant sale, the strawberries and the lettuces. The Courgettes are flowering but as soon as the fruits start they seem to disappear overnight as well. I weren’t going to use them this year but I’m tempted to get those blue pellets out! Yeah the weather we’re having is not doing the garden much cop either is it? Arghhhhhhhhhh! We have to keep cracking on. Best of luck on the allotment! Pete