Potatoes!

Tina20

I had some potatoes growing tentacles a while back, so I chopped them up (with a couple of tentacles on each chunk) and planted them.

Plants have come up now, about a foot high, when can you harvest them?

I'm a completely gardening newbie!

SailorSam

Have you been covering them up as they're growing, I'm pretty much a virgin gardener last year was my first year trying veges. I was chuffed when they started but then got told i should cover the leaves 'cos all the growth is going into the leaves and not the potatoes http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/growfruitandveg_potatoes1.shtml

Horseunderwater

Tina20 wrote: »

I had some potatoes growing tentacles a while back, so I chopped them up (with a couple of tentacles on each chunk) and planted them.

Plants have come up now, about a foot high, when can you harvest them?

I'm a completely gardening newbie!

When growing potatoes:
Each one needs the "tentacles" as you call them facing upwards. The tuber (potato) should be planted approx 8 inches down in either garden soil of a deep plant pot/container. Well covered up and left to grow. Once leaves emerge, keep soil covering lower stalks. The plants will need a good tomato feed if in a pot. Wait for the flowers to die off and stalks to die down a bit (turn yellow). Then you can dig them up.

Budget_Gardener

Yep, 'earthing up' is essential for the best results - cover the leaves when they appear and try to encourage them to work hard to break through. This means more stem area for the roots to come off and grow the tubers. Watch out for surface disruption and potatoes in the sunlight - green spuds are poisonous.
As far as harvesting is concerned, do nothing until they're pretty much dead. As long as the leaves are there they're working hard and growing the tubers. Once they've stopped photosynthesising you may as well dig them up.

Farway

With some varieties of spuds when flowers appear is a sign they are ready for harvest

But a word of caution, check one plant first for suitable spud size, do not go at and dig the lot up, check first

Lotus-eater

As Farway says, unless you know the variety, you don't know. Best thing to do is to carefully push your hand down in the soil and have a furtle and see if you have any, if you do and you only want a couple for yourself, then pull them off leaving the plant in situ.
The plant will then carry on producing new ones.