two vegetable garden questions

[Betsy]

1. Do potato plants have fruit? I just harvested my first crop of
potatoes, and there are all these little green soft fruit on the ground
where the vines died back. If they are fruit, can they be planted and
become potato vines?

2. What is a good late season crop to plant in the bed where the potatoes
are no more? Or several late season crops :)

[Spark]

Yes! Oh, Yes! A hundred times yes. :)

Planting potato seed is a great way to select new varieties for your
specific area. You can select for instance: Cold Tolerance, Yield, Taste,
Color, etc. And it's also a lot of fun!

See: "Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties, The Gardener's and Farmer's Guide
to Plant Breeding and Seed Saving" by Carol Deppe.

www.amazon.com carries it at a discount price.

Spark

"Betsy" -0> wrote in message
...
> 1. Do potato plants have fruit? I just harvested my first crop of
> potatoes, and there are all these little green soft fruit on the ground
> where the vines died back. If they are fruit, can they be planted and
> become potato vines?
>
> 2. What is a good late season crop to plant in the bed where the potatoes
> are no more? Or several late season crops :)
>
>

[simy1]

"Betsy" -0> wrote in message >...
> 1. Do potato plants have fruit? I just harvested my first crop of
> potatoes, and there are all these little green soft fruit on the ground
> where the vines died back. If they are fruit, can they be planted and
> become potato vines?

yes, they are fruits. I think if you plant them you will get plants
with small potatoes. Those, if used as seed potatoes, will give you
regular potatoes. But I am not sure and someone may correct me.

>
> 2. What is a good late season crop to plant in the bed where the potatoes
> are no more? Or several late season crops :)

If you like greens, you have lots of choices. In the last 3 weeks I
planted tatsoi, arugula, lettuce, spinach, chicory, and kale. Pac
choi, broccoli rabe (rapini), mustard, would be good choices too. It
is getting a bit late to plant carrots, chard, peas or short season
cabbages (including broccoli), at least in SE MI.

[Ann]

(simy1) expounded:

>yes, they are fruits. I think if you plant them you will get plants
>with small potatoes. Those, if used as seed potatoes, will give you
>regular potatoes. But I am not sure and someone may correct me.

Yes, they're fruits, but if you take the seeds out and plant them,
you'll get baby potato plants just like if you plant tomato seeds.
Seed potatoes are small potatoes, or pieces cut from larger ones.
--
Ann, Gardening in zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
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