Hi Dafy,

Just have a minute! I ALWAYS have left over potatoes that start to grow! That's where the ones I posted pictures of last year came from. I always just throw them out on the compost pile, and I've had them coming up for years now, but never took the time to figure out what they were till last year!

The problem with yours is that it's gonna get too cold yet to plant them out right now. If you have a compost pile--decomposed or not--I guess I'd recommend burying them deeply somewhere near the edge of the pile and keeping your fingers crossed. If they don't freeze too badly they'll probably come up---and, I'm not sure about this, but I think some of mine were coming up even after they were out there all winter and had probably actually frozen. If it doesn't work with these, just remember anytime they get too old, you can plant them out somewhere if you have a spot. If you do try to plant those, I'd probably break off the longest of the new growth first. And mine were coming up from DEEP within the compost pile, so as long as they're not in heavy "normal" soil, they CAN be buried deeply.

If having growing potatoes around means you're Dafy, then I am too!

Skybird

The old timers in these parts say taters and peas get planted St Patties day. I always have the taters I missed at harvest popping up the next yeat. Biggest problem I have it tater beetles. The chickens won't eat them.

Billie

Nah, not dafy for growing taters...just dafy for forgetting they were in there long enough that they grew so much. I'm thinking of using the big cat litter buckets (cleaned of course), lined with a black plastic trash bag with drainage holes poked in both.

Skybird - how's the head, did PT okay you to go back to work yet?

Jen

You can plant them and they will make a crop of potatoes. You can cut them in sections with an eye in each section or a growing part. However it is a little early and they may freeze back but they usually will regrow. Do you have any way of mulching them with leaves or straw for a couple of weeks?

I'll probably leave them where they are since they've been okay so far until I can get holes drilled in the containers (unless I forget again) :-)

How about you throw a little bit of dirt on top of them right where they are and leave the bin open so they can get some light???
;-)

The head's still not doing real great! If I had any other job I'd be back to work, but I'm still having some trouble getting my right leg to do what I want it to, and if I'm having trouble with balance here on the ground, it's probably not gonna work too well trying to walk with a moving floor---so here I sit! And the doctor says a second concussion could be catastrophic, so I can't take that chance. I'm currently in the process of trying to get appointments with an ENT and a neurologist for additional diagnosis of the dizziness and proprioception problems, and, while I've used up all the "allowable" sessions for PT on my neck (it still hurts!), I start PT on Tuesday for the balance problem. Whoever woulda thunk getting hit in the head would be this complicated! Not me!

About your potatoes, if you don't have a spot in a compost pile where you can plant them, I'd still break off the longest shoots and put them out now if you have a place with thawed soil to do it, and if you can cover them with a nice, thick layer of compost--or leaves or something else as Margaret suggested. I think it would take some awfully cold weather to do them in at this point, and if it works it would give them a real good head start.

Let us know what you do with them,
Skybird

P.S. Back when I was even poorer than I am now, I've eaten potatoes that looked worse than yours! As long as they weren't green!