Garden Notes

Rogue Potato and Zuchini sharing a compost bin

My “Rogue Potato” has been growing all summer in the compost bin and has shared the space with a  couple of zucchini plants for most of that time. For the most part the potato and zucchini were good neighbors, but eventually the squash got really pushy and began to shade out the potato. Luckily the potato was nearly done growing and the potato vines began to dry up and lay down signaling that they were finished.

Since the zucchini were still producing, I was reluctant to dig up the potatoes and disturb the roots of the still viable squash. I basically have been waiting for cooler weather and the end of the squash harvest. When I got home from vacation yesterday, the squash looked tired and a little wilted and I decided to pull them out so I could harvest my potatoes.

I opened the compost bin and carefully removed the compost from the top third of the bin. That potato had produced 3 large potatoes, six medium potatoes and 8 fingerlings. Not bad for a potato that had been discarded last winter in the compost! I also harvested at least 15 squash from the zucchini that had been sharing the compost bin.

Harvest from "Rogue Potato" growing in compost bin

As I prepare to bake 2 of my new potatoes, I can’t help wondering what else would thrive in the compost bin?

This article is part of a series on composting.

Read previous article: “Potato Going Rogue”

Read follow-up article: “Easy Composting”