You know how cops are always busting people with houses full of marijuana plants? What if you did all of that but with potatoes instead of marijuana? What if you had an entire house full of grow lights and potato plants in buckets and then every inch of lawn on your property had potatoes and not a single blade of grass?
Would anyone care? Would the cops come along and put a stop to it? If not, how many more potatoes would you have to grow before something like that happened?
TL;DR In Britain I’m pretty sure this wouldn’t technically be illegal even if you filled the whole place.
Depends on where you are. I’m pretty sure that in Britain, the cops would eventually turn up with a search warrant and then leave disappointed when they find only potatoes, even if you fill every inch of your property. They might come back randomly too, which you might find harassing, but they wouldn’t be able to shut you down for that.
They could get you on technicalities though if they really wanted to stop you.
For example, if you have shared walls (or floors/ceilings), and heck, maybe if you don’t, too much weight could cause a collapse and make more than just your property unsafe. There’s also the potential for excess heat or moisture affecting the structure or neighbours. There might even be a noise complaint depending on things like fans or pumps.
Then there’s the whole business angle. Your property might not be zoned for running a business, so you could be pulled up on either running a business without a licence if you don’t set yourself up that way and also for running that business out of the wrong sort of property. You’d have to start selling the potatoes to fall foul of that though. Donations-based would be a grey area, but I feel like they might try the unlicensed charity angle instead.
I’d honestly be surprised if noone at all on this isle had completely filled their house with potato plants. I certainly know some people who I’m sure are only a couple of steps away from doing something like this.