New potatoes for christmas?

greyteam1959

Anybody located a supplier that actually has any stocks of seed potatoes at the moment ???????
Any ideas where I can get some from ???????

~Chameleon~

mervyn11 wrote: »

Anybody located a supplier that actually has any stocks of seed potatoes at the moment ???????
Any ideas where I can get some from ???????

I've got a catalogue on my desk from D.T.Brown's and they have "second cropping" potatoes listed in it for posting early August. Might be worth giving them a call on 0845 3710532 to find out whether they're still sending them out.

greyteam1959

Many thats for that Chameleon

Zazen999

My christmas crop is being grown at the moment; from 1 seed potato that got left in the bottom of the bag in April plus the peelings [which included bits that had sprouted] from shop bought spuds [before we started harvesting our home grown earlies]. The ones from the peelings are a good 12 inches high now - so if you can't get any just use shop bought ones and chit them on a windowsill.

winnywindows

i agree with Zazen999. we planted potatoes that had grown sprouts in our potato basket. these were planted in some deep large buckets i bought from the tip for 25p each which were filled with a bag of growing soil from the diy shop.
these potatoes have just been harvested and they are delicious the skin comes off if rubbed with a blunt and knife. they are so delicious and have saved us so much money... and just to think at one time i threw those sprouting potatoes away.

Zazen999

Not that I am going to have shortage of spuds before christmas; we've got 100 tubers in the allotment; of which we have only harvested about 1/4 of and we already have more spuds than you can shake a stick at. We've also got 4 buckets at home with sprouted peelings in which are about ready now.

Going to have to store loads in the shed soon, so planning on getting those flat boxes from the supermarkets; and putting the spuds [with the soil still on] on newspaper and stacking: otherwise we'd run out of space at home.

FROSTYFRECKLE

Hi All,

My Christmas spuds are in but will be well gone long before Christmas - yum yum full tum:D . I bought them from Victoriana Nursery and have just checked their website - you can pre-order for next year it is too late to get them this year. Might be worth popping in a few new tatties that have sprouted and pop them in pots - just to avoid any potential issues with viruses. I've never had any probs but you never know.

BigDonut

HAs anyone found any potatoes yet?

I saw some on
http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/rkmain.asp?PAGEID=20671&ctl_cat_Code=M12111

but think they are for next year rather than available now

Money_saving_Diva_2

Ok, I am going to grow Christmas potatoes this year. I have never grown potatoes of any kind before and my partner just bought home a huge bag of winter/Christmas potatoes. I am not sure of the variety yet as he has left them in the back of the car and gone to bed with bad flu. (I have mobility problems so cannot get out to the car to find them!!)

Anyway, I thought I would start this thread for some support. I have bought potato sacks to grow them in and I think I have got the whole point of putting just a little soil in at first til they start to grow, but is there anyting else I should know about? I have only started seriously growing veg this year and so this is all new to me.

So are you growing them for winter too? And if so, any tips for a novice?

Thanking you in advance

Diva.x

Ephemera

Hi Diva,

I grew some spuds for Christmas last year, however they succumbed to blight and although we got a crop there weren't many of them!

As it looks like a wet Autumn is likely, I would advise you spray your potatoes for blight - Bordeaux mixture is good. See here for details - http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0701/potato_blight.asp

Apart from that, if your spuds are well chitted then you should get a good crop as long as your spuds are put in good soil or compost. Try to avoid anything that has had spuds growing in it before to avoid passing on problems. Spuds are easy to grow and taste wonderful fresh from the garden!

Let me know if you have problems getting Bordeaux mix if you want to use it - I have some you can have if you like! PM me if you want..

All the best and enjoy,

Eph x