GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Vegetables In Compost Bin

Billy[_10_] · 23-05-2010, 09:28 PM posted to rec.gardens

In article ,
(MICHELLE H.) wrote:

Hi all,

The other day when I went to my compost bin to throw away some banana
peels and egg shells, I noticed a bunch of green plants ( about 8 or 9
), growing out of the top of my compost bin, so I dug one up to see what
it was, and there were baby potatoes attached to the bottom of the
plants!!

A few months ago, I threw a whole bag of potatoes which were starting to
rot, away in the compost bin, and now I have potato plants growing in
there.

So I guess my question is, if I keep letting them grow, will they be
SAFE to eat!? If so, I don't know anything about potato plants. How do
you know when the are ready to be picked? And how do you pick them? Do
you just rip the whole plant out?

I asked a guy in the Garden Center at "Home Depot", if the I can eat the
potatoes growing out of the compost bin, and his response to me was "I
wouldn't eat ANYTHING growing from a compost bin".

As long as the potatoes aren't green, they are safe. You may want to
replant them, and wait for the tops to die back and turn brown before
digging them up.

Thanks for the gardening question. Think I'll go get a big Prunella
drink now.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html