Potatoes sometimes naturalize, but the unexpected windfall has a drawback.Kitchen gardeners who rotate their crop families faithfully on a three- or four-year schedule can run into problems with the spread of potatoes and tomatoes, both members of the nightshade family.
Crop rotation helps control disease and pest problems, and when these plants naturalize, they upset that strategy.
The solution is to dig up every potato, no matter how tiny or green; pull out all tomato plants; and remove every spoiled or unharvested tomato.
Because members of the nightshade family are host to many diseases and bests, they are best disposed of in the trash -- not the compost -- or buried deep in an out-of-the-way place where you won't be growing nightshade-related plants. Another option, if you keep chickens, ducks or geese, is to feed spoiled fruit to your flock.
-- Homes & Gardens staff
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