Phantom Potatoes

[morlogs]

Well now I've seen everything. I just dug up this ugly looking plant in my flower garden and it was a potato plant complete with about a dozen 2-3 inch potatoes. I never planted potatoes in my life much less in with the roses. My wife swears she didn't do it. I considered planting some once a long time ago but I'm fairly convinced that thinking potatoes doesn't make them happen. To anyone's knowledge, is there any way for this to happen? I know birds will drop seeds and they'll grow, but potatoes?!?
Morlogs

 

[Trellum]

Well, I have some empty plant pots and plenty of birds in my place... now I've at least 3 tiny pal trees growing in those pots! Yup, I never planted them or wanted a palm tree, but there they are! I'm just guessing the seeds made their way to my pots either by the wind or the birds. I'm guessing the same happened in this case Or maybe someone threw a germinating potato peel and you didn't even know it.

 

[morlogs]

I may have figured it out. During the winter we have bears regularly getting into the garbage and they tend to scatter stuff around. Possibly they slung a potato or a potato peel into the flower bed and I missed it. Trellum, good luck with your new Palm Trees. (May need bigger pots

 

[claudine]

Haha, it must have been a big surprise. I think I'd like to find potatoes in my garden Unfortunately, I've never found any vegetables that I hadn't planted.
The weirdest plant that surprised me was a tiny fern in my miniature rose flower pot. I have absolutely no idea how it got there

 

[annageckos]

Around here the squirrels are always helping in the garden. I've found about a million black walnut trees starting, crocus bulbs moved. I could easily see a squirrel trying to stash a potato in a garden.

 

[Lostvalleyguy]

Could there have been a small piece of potato in your compost which then got placed on the roses? As I have often grabbed seedling from my compost patch, it would be my first suspect for a rogue plant. It is too bad it was in the wrong place, it sounds like you could have had a decent harvest if it had been left to grow.

Keep an eye on that spot. There are probably several other tiny potatoes waiting to sprout up now that the main plant is gone.

 

[claudine]

Around here the squirrels are always helping in the garden. I've found about a million black walnut trees starting, crocus bulbs moved. I could easily see a squirrel trying to stash a potato in a garden.

Lol, I didn't think about it. But I completely agree, it's very possible that a squirrel planted that potato. In my area, there are lots and lots of squirrels too, I love feeding them with bread, apples and carrots. They eat almost everything. Sometimes, they just grab a piece of food and they run away I'm pretty sure they're stashing it somewhere.

 

[Whitewolf2578]

It is due to birds. They eat the seeds and can't outright digest them so they fly over your garden and launch their crap into your soil. I have had phantom Tomatoes grow in my yard before, and I never put them there because of the places they were growing up wasn't that good of a place. Leave it to birds and animals to keep the earth green though,