The Garden Fence - help and support in tough times

Gintotmelinda

Hi all

Just thought I'd pop in for some advice if you would be so good.

We have second earlies in a raised bed and they have been ready for several weeks. We have been eating some gradually. The leaves are dying back. Should I pick the potatoes now and store? If so how? We have a garden shed and greenhouse.


Or can I leave them in the ground?

Thanks
Gintot

[Deleted User]

If you lift your potatoes make sure the haulms have died back and look brown and dry. If you dig the potatoes the best way to store them is in sacks, we use double wall paper ones (get them from the garden centre). When you've dug them leave them laid out on the lawn/patio in the sun to dry any mud/earth still on them. Have a sort through and discard any green ones, put aside any damaged ones and use asap and the rest can go into the sacks, seal the tops (I fold mine over and squash the fold) and then store them in a cool dark place out of direct light, I cover my sacks with an old blanket to help keep the light off and they should last you through the autumn and into the winter. It pays to tip them out once every few weeks and just check for any damaged ones as you can lose the whole sackful if you get 1 diseased one in it and don't check.

Sorry, just read your post again Gintot, second earlies won't keep as long as early maincrop but stored in a sack you should keep them a couple of months at the least. We always grew a first early called ACCENT and left them in the ground until September when they were big enough to jacket and they stored through the autumn and into winter very well indeed.

Gintotmelinda

Thanks Mrs LW. Advice much appreciated.


Gintot

Jazee

Morning fencers.

Mrs LW - thanks for the advice above on potatoes. I didn't plant any this year but obviously didn't raise all last years as I have a four foot stretch full of them. Waiting for the leaves to die back and then I'll check if they are any good, no loss if not. I will have a shed to store things in from this week, can't wait.

It's still dry here (just a few spots of rain last night) so I intend to get out and cut the grass this morning as soon as I can tell the neighbours are up and its a decent time not to disturb too many people.

Have a great day everyone.

[Deleted User]

Still dry here too JAZEE and I didn't water last night as they promised a drenching! Your potatoes are most likely some rogues from the tiny ones that get missed in the harvesting. You might be lucky and find a few worth collecting when you dig but usually, unless you missed some big ones last year, they make masses of foliage and not much by way of tuber, Still, you never know and they certainly need to be dug out and cleared so anything big enough to be of use is a bonus!

It's just started to rain, yippee, big fat sploshy drops too!

ivyleaf

Yay, nuttyp back too! Hiya nuttyp! We've missed you! So glad you're feeling better.

Dry here atm, but looks as if it's about to rain any minute. It's quite chilly, but have the window open as I've had a couple of flea bites:eek: so OH had a good go with the spray in the living room before he came to bed. I hope he thought to spray the upholstery as well as the carpet!

[Deleted User]

Picked our crop of redcurrants from the 3 bushes yesterday, cooked them and put them through the jelly bag overnight, 5 1/2 pints of juice + 5 1/2 lbs of sugar and I have 9 jars of redcurrant jelly, some of the jars are 1 1/2 lb ones I wonder how much that amount of redcurrant jelly would have cost me to buy?

Popperwell

Hi Everyone, like many gardening is out of the question at present(Rain stopped play)Don't think that its shooting away(I should be able to sort it out when the weather improves)Anyone seeing my blog may've seen the fun I had at the Sunderland Air Show.


The journey there was OK until I was almost there when a van cut across my bus that was being careful and slow in a designated lane and took the front of the bus off and we had to walk the remaining route. Being slow I missed the first two displays until I reached the area I normally aim for(away from the fast food/fair ground rides)


The weather was changeable and started to rain heavily at the end of the Red Arrows display but they managed to do it all.


For various reasons(a lack of buses for my queue)and then single deckers being used for connecting to other routes for the queue that was waiting(no extras put on)a two hour(ish)journey took me six hours of which four was waiting in queues in bus stations...I left at 5pm and arrived home at 11pm.


Still an enjoyable day(I looked for a coach trip)no joy but was told that there was one after all so perhaps next year I'll try that. They got home by 8pm. It only cost them an extra £5 to what I spent.


I was tired over Sunday. I stayed in. I did some housework, in between sleeping. The same today...but I have a long booked music event "Last Night Of The Proms" paid for last year. So I'll be heading there in a couple of hours.


Horrible wet weather for it. I'm going to take as little as possible with me. Money, a brolly and a small bottle of water. Keeping my fingers crossed that I have little or no walking to do and can connect with buses to the venue and back home.


Just resting now...I'd like the weather to improve so I can consider painting the fences. Another not so nice job the recent warmish weather and collection of rubbish fortnightly has resulted in some maggots in the wheelie bin. I want to move some of the rubbish into different sacks(and fasten them)I have fly spray, disinfectant and bin buddy powder to make it smell better again. If it needs it I may wash it out or try and catch one of those companies that clean them after the refuse collectors have emptied them but its not a service I need on a regular bases.


Otherwise things are going OK for now...that's as exciting as it gets unless going on to a Statin tablet amongst my meds is seen as exciting. Its not my diet but I'm borderline on the cholesterol front so the consultant wants me to take one.


Hope you are all well x

shanks77

Hope you have a good evening Pops xx

Popperwell

Thanks Shanks77 It was a very enjoyable night. Light classics, nothing too heavy. Everyone in a good mood. British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and soloists Anna Clark Monk and Andrew Forbes Lane. They are doing a mini tour around the UK.


Today has been quiet(slept a fair bit)and the weather was not good so jobs outside were off and nowhere to go for once:p


Not wasted day and prove I'm not lazy...I've tidied/cleaned the kitchen, done some washing, washed and put away some cutlery and crockery, I'm cooking pork and chicken in the slow cookers for meals for the rest of the week.


I've done the icky job of cleaning the wheelie bin and re-bagging the rubbish and I think all is well again(not as bad as feared and I think they were fruit flies)


And put some extra garden rubbish out with the other stuff in the garden from the passage that runs alongside the house.


So I'm quite happy that I've seemingly managed to get six tasks done and quite quickly too. If it could always go that well;)Good for a bloke.