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> There are around 140 species of wild potato in South America, growing from Mexico in the north all the way down to Argentina and Chile in the south. Super nit, but do authors think Mexico is in South America?
Along with wheat, maize and rice, they are estimated to account for up to 80% of all calories eaten by people worldwide.
Nightshades are problematic for stressed and old people because the plants have mild poisons. Old people and addicts tend to not be able to handle the poisons in tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants and chilis. But for people that are nightshade-tolerant potatoes are an excellent food crop. IIRC, someone was annoyed that do-gooders wanted to remove potatoes from the food stamp programs, because the potato is actually an alm…
Off-topic but I have to say that potatoes are incredibly easy to grow, and doing so is very worthwhile. I have a small planter on my balcony at the moment which is thriving with leaves, and in a few weeks I'll dig out the harvest to see what I got. People grow them in very poor soil, and even in literal bags of compost, or buckets. They're easy-going and almost trouble-free. Growing chillis, tomatoes, or herbs on win…
Potatoes are a bit better in that respect.
But in poor weather conditions, blight can easily set in on the potatoes and tomatoes. Which makes it a lot less worthwhile.
I dislike potatoes because they are not trve roots but are instead tubers. Beetroot and radishes are where the real stuff is happening. The potato is a vegetable of stupefaction, radishes make you hyper-intelligent.
> There are around 140 species of wild potato in South America, growing from Mexico in the north all the way down to Argentina and Chile in the south. Super nit, but do authors think Mexico is in South America?
I can easily forgive the statement you highlighted, but there is zero information about potatoes in this one: Along with wheat, maize and rice, they are estimated to account for up to 80% of all calories eaten by people worldwide.
Off-topic but I have to say that potatoes are incredibly easy to grow, and doing so is very worthwhile. I have a small planter on my balcony at the moment which is thriving with leaves, and in a few weeks I'll dig out the harvest to see what I got. People grow them in very poor soil, and even in literal bags of compost, or buckets. They're easy-going and almost trouble-free. Growing chillis, tomatoes, or herbs on win…
Off-topic but I have to say that potatoes are incredibly easy to grow, and doing so is very worthwhile. I have a small planter on my balcony at the moment which is thriving with leaves, and in a few weeks I'll dig out the harvest to see what I got. People grow them in very poor soil, and even in literal bags of compost, or buckets. They're easy-going and almost trouble-free. Growing chillis, tomatoes, or herbs on win…
> People grow them in very poor soil, and even in literal bags of compost
a bag of compost is pretty much the exact opposite of "very poor soil"; it's about the richest soil there is.
I dislike potatoes because they are not trve roots but are instead tubers. Beetroot and radishes are where the real stuff is happening. The potato is a vegetable of stupefaction, radishes make you hyper-intelligent.
your comment shows that you are a real foodie, but unfortunately missunderstood , or rather it was the downvoting that made re read your comment and go "hey ya!, good one"
Nightshades are problematic for stressed and old people because the plants have mild poisons. Old people and addicts tend to not be able to handle the poisons in tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants and chilis. But for people that are nightshade-tolerant potatoes are an excellent food crop. IIRC, someone was annoyed that do-gooders wanted to remove potatoes from the food stamp programs, because the potato is actually an alm…
So consistently eating a lot of them increases one's risk of Type 2 diabetes.
Off-topic but I have to say that potatoes are incredibly easy to grow, and doing so is very worthwhile. I have a small planter on my balcony at the moment which is thriving with leaves, and in a few weeks I'll dig out the harvest to see what I got. People grow them in very poor soil, and even in literal bags of compost, or buckets. They're easy-going and almost trouble-free. Growing chillis, tomatoes, or herbs on win…
We tried carrots, but they came out very stunted, even accounting that they were a smaller variety. The container we used was likely too shallow.
Does anyone have other vegetable suggestions for us apartment-dwelling container growers to try? We have a few different size containers available ranging from about (in inches) 12x12x36 to 24x24x24 and space for more.