Veg to plant in January and things to do.

Rummer

Oh glad to see this thread has been resurrected :j I will need to go back to the beginning and have a good read through again

Sally_A

Thanks Rummer, I couldn't be faffed to type it all again, so thought I'd go resurrect it. There's Feb, March, April etc lurking somewhere in the cobwebbed corners of this section somewhere. I'll try to find them and kick them back into life as the months progress.

Rummer

Thank you

JJ.

Thank you for bringing this thread up. :j

I'm a very new gardener, only really been gardening for a couple of years, so I'm still learning. I've taken delivery this week of my seed potatoes. I have an unheated greenhouse, and I intend to grow them in potato containers. I need to chit them, but I'm unsure where is the best place to do this. Think it'll be too cold in the Greenhouse? I have only one south facing room but it doesn't really have any windowsills that I could use to chit them on. Thought maybe the airing cupboard would be too dark and warm for them. Any suggestions please, as to where might be the best place for me to chit my spuds, and when I should be planting them out?

My varieties are.. Charlotte, King Edward and Maris Piper. I've got 20 of each variety, so hope to be able to have enough to see me through the year. I know that the Edwards can be later cropping too, so I might stager plant those to see me through to Christmas. Would that be ok?

Really, any advice would be so appreciated. Whilst I had great success last year with my Toms, Spuds, Carrots, Onions and flowers, all which I grew myself, I don't feel I have enough confidence yet to just go for it. I really am a novice at it, but I'm very keen to learn more.

nlj1520

So glad to see this thread....such a great source of info to us newbies at veg growing. I am chitting seed potatoes on the windowsill and was intending to grow them in black sacks using my rather wet home made compost to earth them up as they grow. It did occur to me that that might introduce slugs to the spuds. Has anyone tried this and what where the results?

Sally_A

JJ. - best place to chit is on a north facing windowsill in the house, should be above freezing, light enough to get them going, but not too light and warm to make them go leggy which will then snap off as soon as you plant them.

As for Christmas, unless you keep good storers - Pink Fir Apple is a late maincrop, but has the waxy taste of a salad/new spud - I wouldn't fuss too much about that. The mighty Alan T says dig new potatoes, stick them in a biscuit tin in sand or fibrous soil or something, and dig the tin up on Christmas Eve, a bit extreme, and the chance of me knowing where I buried said tin without getting the local metal detector group out is minimal. There is something to be learnt from what he said though, to store, keep spuds cool, dark and dry.

nlj1520 - if the black sacks are bin liners, they will rip at the first chance and it will be mayhem. Much better to turn old compost bags inside out, most of them have black on the inside, a few holes in the bottom for a bit of drainage.

I tried a couple of bags, quite frankly it was a lot of effort for very little reward, yes I had early spuds, but not a lot, though the taste was fab, as it always will be with first home grown ones. Have learnt now to buy my new spuds in the shops, and plant my spuds in open ground; better yields, and you could be harvesting from June to October. Beyond that you can bag them up and store (thick paper bags, and store in a cool place, shed temperatures are not constant, but a back utility room seems to work).

JJ.

Sally_A wrote: »

JJ. - best place to chit is on a north facing windowsill in the house, should be above freezing, light enough to get them going, but not too light and warm to make them go leggy which will then snap off as soon as you plant them.

As for Christmas, unless you keep good storers - Pink Fir Apple is a late maincrop, but has the waxy taste of a salad/new spud - I wouldn't fuss too much about that. The mighty Alan T says dig new potatoes, stick them in a biscuit tin in sand or fibrous soil or something, and dig the tin up on Christmas Eve, a bit extreme, and the chance of me knowing where I buried said tin without getting the local metal detector group out is minimal. There is something to be learnt from what he said though, to store, keep spuds cool, dark and dry.

nlj1520 - if the black sacks are bin liners, they will rip at the first chance and it will be mayhem. Much better to turn old compost bags inside out, most of them have black on the inside, a few holes in the bottom for a bit of drainage.

I tried a couple of bags, quite frankly it was a lot of effort for very little reward, yes I had early spuds, but not a lot, though the taste was fab, as it always will be with first home grown ones. Have learnt now to buy my new spuds in the shops, and plant my spuds in open ground; better yields, and you could be harvesting from June to October. Beyond that you can bag them up and store (thick paper bags, and store in a cool place, shed temperatures are not constant, but a back utility room seems to work).

Thank you so much Sally, I can chit the potatoes on the kitchen windowsill. I really appreciate your advise. :beer:

Sally_A

Please don't take my advice as guaranteed set in stone. I can only tell you what works for me here in North Somerset. Mother Nature has a habit changing the rules each season.

I plant the spuds using a bulb planter on freshly dug ground (much easier than digging trenches), 17th March is my preferred date, but if it it too wet or cold, this can be delayed for up to 4 weeks.

At the end of the day, if you get 10 good spuds off of 1 seed spud (say 15p per seed spud), it's still a good return.

Keep a diary of what works for you, which varieties you like, planting dates etc.

My favourite first meal of the season is waxy new spuds, cook them, cube them, and mix with baby broad beans, green garlic, a smidge of celery salt, black pepper and a gert big dollop of mayo. To me this means that summer and self sufficiency is on its way for a good 5 months.

[Deleted User]

OOh I am very glad to see this thread again, lol it brings the promise of spring. I sowed seeds of peppers and chillis today and actually counted them out, two ds in laws wants some and I am sharing mine. This time from the real seed co and now at a comfortable 28 degrees.

What a palaver up a ladder getting the propagator down off a high shelf in the garage, I knocked a load of root trainers down at the same time so its a mess in there. I have just made a space outside, in a hidden away area and against a high garden wall, for two 6 foot tall outdoor shelved utility cupboards. Plastic no less but no-one will see them and I just have to get my trays and pots organised. I have so much gardening stuff :eek:

yorkieorchid

I get my potato sacks, (to store them in) from the local fish and chip shop for free. They are only too glad to get rid of them.