Potatoes - where to start? (Merged Thread)

scottishfreebiehunter

Am I best to dig it in now and then plant late March early October as can still be really hard frost up here in late Feb etc though feels like summer today :rotfl:

mardatha

How hard is it to grow potatoes ? We live high on open moorland and have been told you cant grow "earlies " here as the growing season is too short. Are they a lot of hard work or not ? And do you just buy some then let them sprout then plant them? or what ? Sorry for all gormless questions !:p

JueJue_2

I know nothing of gardening, but I grow my own potatoes. I get a few that have "eyes" in them and 1 in a bucket, doesn;'t take long to start growing, then when the flowers have died on the plant, I get the potoatoes. lol, I know its not the best, but hey it works, lol. and I do get a few potatoes

mardatha

just plant the potato itself , ones that have eyes in them , yes? and no special treatment? That sounds ok !! ty

Farway

You can just plant the spud & it will work

However given your location you may be better off "chitting" them first, thus you know they were OK when they went in & have not rotted or something worse before they had cahnce to grow

All this means is starting them into growth indoors before you plant out, just stand them in egg boxes or trays [not practical if you are planting hundreds of course]

Then plant when they have small shoots growing

This should extend your season as you can start now

mardatha

brilliant !I will do this . I didnt want hundreds its ok

katskorner

I am in the south midlands and I have already chitted and planted all my spuds for this year. Got some first and second earlies. Don't think I went for any maincrop this year as I would rather lift before the blight moves in.

JueJue_2

just another bit of info, my mother-in-law, used to peel the spuds for sunday dinner, then plant a few peelings in the garden, and used to get potatoes, lol.

arkonite_babe

We have a thread similar to this already, I'll add your query to it so all the replies are together. Posts are listed in date order so you'll need to read from the beginning to catch up

Pitlanepiglet

Hello all, this is my first post here after some time lurking so :wave:

I managed to make an unexpected £25 yesterday so I've invested in in growing veg.
We're in a rented house at the moment and will be moving at the end of the year so it needs to be container gardening for this year so I've bought five cheap black plastic buckets, three big bags of compost, two types of see potato (2nd earlies and maincrop I think), onions and garlic and then some courgette seeds.

I'm very excited by the prospect of growing veggies and hope that I can keep up the enthusiasm over the next few months!