New potatoes for christmas?

1jim

when you top up the soil/compost do you cover all of the leaves as well as the shoots or just under the leaves? sorry really dnese question I know
jim

Trishh_2

You can cover most of the leaves each time you earth up.
Helps keep any developing spuds in the dark & protect the plant from any frost later in the year (though you should move the container to a frost free shed/garage in frosty weather or the foilage will be killed off)
My seed spuds arrived yesterday from fothergills so will be planted this w/end.
Hopefully we get some decent weather that lasts a couple of months :rolleyes:

Jayar

I tried unchitted Charlottes from Lidl too after your comment on farmers Farway and the greenery is coming along nicely now. I'll have to think of earthing them up soon.
A bit sad really though, thinking of Christmas dinner already.

cdg1111

Am I too late to do this? I bought a bag of Charlotte newbies today at Tesco. Last week I saw the Venerable Christine on a show saying that you can plant them up now...... just wondered if I had missed the boat.

Calephetos

I've shoved some little potatoes into trenches in the garden and am hoping... They hadn't chitted after a couple of weeks, so I threw them in anyway! *crosses fingers*

Farway

cdg1111 wrote: »

Am I too late to do this? I bought a bag of Charlotte newbies today at Tesco. Last week I saw the Venerable Christine on a show saying that you can plant them up now...... just wondered if I had missed the boat.

Always worth a try, they may be a bit smaller with the shorter growing time, but if you never try you will never know, and given the news that the jeststream has at last moved north an Indian summer is very likely, so go for it, especially if you can give them some shelter in a greenhouse, porch, conservatory etc

rsdiscos

Just read this thread - am I too late? I have never grown potatoes before!
I don't necessarily want them for Christmas. They would be in an unheated enclosed veranda, will be using a black plastic bin and trying the lidi potatoes unless someone tells me nettos are unsprayed (it's closer to me).
Can I use my own compost? - have seen woodlice etc.. in it but thought if I empty the bin and spread the compost out to dry off they will hunt out damper areas. I have got nearly 1 bag of shop compost.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

Farway

As my previous reply earlier, always worth a try

Netto spuds, not sure if sprayed or not, give them a gentle scrub with fresh water, should remove any residue of spray I reckon

Home compost should be fine, but start with shop one to give them a flying start.

Woodlice in your compost could be a problem as the may start on the spuds, any hidden slug eggs etc in there could be more of a problem as there will be no natural predators around in a pot to help control them

Personally if funds allow I would stick to bought compost at this stage

margaretclare

Hello, I'm doing this, using the potato buckets that I used earlier in the year.

AFAIK you can't just use any old potatoes. I tried that a year ago and it didn't work. You have to get special seed potatoes that have been artificially 'held back' in cold conditions. Try the Suttons website, or Mr Fothergill.

I'm reusing the compost that I already grew potatoes in, with liquid plant food from the worm bin. I didn't bother topping them up a few inches at a time like before, I filled up the container after putting the potatoes in, and already they're showing through (approx 2 weeks later).

HTH

Margaret

Farway

Hi Margaret, you are both right & wrong, you can use any old spuds, but you must make sure they have not been sprayed with a growth inhibitor, and most supermarket spuds have been sprayed to stop spouting [and hence increase shelf life

If you read some previous posts you will see that some, like Lidl, do not spray, or you could buy organic ones. This does work as I and other posters will testify

If you want a particular variety you will of course need to get special seed spuds from a supplier