Potatoes: Buying, Chitting, Planting, Earthing Up; Harvesting.

Janey3

grandmaster00 wrote: »

Hi all,
just to butt in with my two penneth lol.

Last year I did my main crop under straw with no earthing up !!!!

What a revelation !!! No digging, no earthing up and clean white tatties when you harvest. This is a great method and also leaving behind the straw over winter keeps the ground warm and weed free underneath...... I thoroughly recommend it and wont go back to digging potatoes ever ever again. A slight mistake I made was to not 'earth' them up with straw as early as I should have done this led to a few green spuds but not many. This year I will get it 100% correct. There is very little in the way of wireworm attack although it does allow the slugs a little easier access but then again theres no stopping those !!!!!!s anyway if they wanna eat em even if they are underground..

Have heard of this but never tried it, great that you've found it successful.

Did you use multi purpose compost under the straw?

Janey3

grandmaster00

nope...

cow poo !!

Sally_A

Would love to try the straw method, but supplies are not plentiful around here (we are surrounded by farms but it is all used for bedding etc), and I would need one heck of a lot for the 120+ spuds I'm doing.

There is something lovely about digging up spuds, the perfect yellow tubers shining at you through the soil.......love it, it's a bit like Christmas as you never know how big or how many there will be. And after you've dug them all, just have another quick fork through the soil as there are always a few that you miss.

smithyjules

Sally_A wrote: »

There is something lovely about digging up spuds, the perfect yellow tubers shining at you through the soil.......love it, it's a bit like Christmas as you never know how big or how many there will be. And after you've dug them all, just have another quick fork through the soil as there are always a few that you miss.

My little girl calls the potatoes "treasure", you should see her covered in mud on her hands and knees hand fork slung away digging with her hands!she is very funny to watch, the colour of the bath water after always leaves me lost for words too!!:D

Janey3

grandmaster00 wrote: »

nope...

cow poo !!

OK, thanks!


Thank you for starting this thread Sally, very informative.

We call our new spuds, little golden nuggetts!

elsien

Bumping this, as it's taken me ages to find it again so it may still be of use to other people as well.
I'm planting my potatoes in pots in a fairly sheltered garden (midlands) and wasn't sure it if it was still a bit early to be putting them in? I can't remember when I put them out last year.
One of my resolutions was to actually try to keep a record of what I planted and when, instead of my usual trick of chucking everything in unlabelled pots and scratching my head months down the line when I can't remember which variety is which.

mardatha

Leaving mine till April, thank god I hadnt started cos we covered in snow. Again. :mad:

tink1981_2

We're off to buy our seed potatoes this weekend :j

Could anybody recommend any varieties that grow well in tubs?

tink

GreenFly_2

Sally_A wrote: »

As for improving the soil, I'm not convinced, I reckon all the digging, compost and earthing up involved is the real benefit.
.

I agree with that!

GreenFly_2

tink1981 wrote: »

We're off to buy our seed potatoes this weekend :j

Could anybody recommend any varieties that grow well in tubs?

tink

I grew charlotte in tubs for xmas last year and they grew well. Add a nice quiche and its a lovely meal for Late Dec/Jan!