I have been checking on woofapedia about the Aunty V theory of putting a rose into a potato.  It does seem that she hasn’t just made it up.  Some people also dip the cutting in honey before putting it into the potato.  The potato is then put in a hole dug in the ground and covered lightly with earth or compost. Whilst I’m not certain that it is something mum is going to be trying it anytime soon Harrier and I between us have dug enough holes around the place over the summer that she could give it a go with a trailer load of potatoes if she needed to, although ironically Mum is now using the used soil from the harvested potato bags to fill in the ones we dug in the lawn, some people are so unappreciative of all our hard work.