Earliest first early potatoes?

[Jandra]

Tonight I ate my first home grown potatoes of 2009.

Click here for picture and procedure:
http://plot101.wordpress.com/2009/05/23 ... concluded/

I might repeat this experiment next year. The potatoes are really good.

[Millymollymandy]

Wow, well done you! Out of interest how light is your attic? I presume there must be some.

[Jandra]

Our attic isn't very light, just two small windows. That's why I moved the buckets to the poly tunnel before danger of frost had passed. The original shoots died off, but in the end it turned out to be a reasonable succes. Larger buckets would be a good idea next time.
Jandra

[Green Aura]

Wow - do you think they would have survived if you'd put them straight into the polytunnel.

I ask because we don't have an attic in our bunker

[Odsox]

Well done, you beat me
Our first new potatoes were destined for today with Sunday dinner.
Still a bit small, but well worth digging especially as I have about 2 months worth of earlies.

New Spuds.jpg (128.72 KiB) Viewed 6931 times

[Millymollymandy]

Yum I can't wait - are yours flowering already Odsox? When did you plant them? I've got flower buds on mine but they are 2nd earlies which I think are supposed to take about 90 days, but I shall be delving around to see what's happening before that time! I don't like big new spuds anyway.

[Jandra]

Green Aura,

I think you can put a bucket with potatoes in the polytunnel at least 4 weeks before you put them outside in the cold soil. But I'm not sure if they would have survived being put in the tunnel early February.
You could give it a try, you only lose a spud or two if it fails.

Jandra

[Odsox]

Yum I can't wait - are yours flowering already Odsox? When did you plant them?

These were planted on the 2nd of March, which was a bit later than normal as I usually try to get them in by mid February. They are Home Guard and don't normally flower at all.

I think you can put a bucket with potatoes in the polytunnel

A word of warning about potatoes indoors, I grew earlies in my greenhouse for a couple of years and although the potatoes were most welcome, what I also succeeded in doing was to infect my border soil with blight spores ... which means I now get blight on my tomatoes at the first sign of damp weather. A polytunnel can be a very damp place in February and very conducive to blight so make sure you don't stand the bucket on the soil. This year I am digging out my greenhouse borders and concreting the floor for hydroponics, but that's not the sort of thing you can do to a polytunnel.

[Millymollymandy]

Mine went in 31/3 so I need to wait a bit longer. The Ratte spuds got fairly trashed in last night's horrendous storm with hail - our 2nd storm like that in the last two weeks. Quite a bit of damage and my poor aubergines have been even more ripped to shreds.

[Rosendula]

Here's my first ones. They were started off early in buckets in the greenhouse, then moved outdoors when I needed the space.





Katie (3) helped me harvest them and when she pulled this one out she said 'Happy Valentine's Day, Mummy'.

[Millymollymandy]

Yum - I love tiny new potatoes like that. Can't wait!

[Millymollymandy]

Don't you like the skin? That's the best bit for me! Anyway you have inspired me to go out and delve around mine (although they are 2nd earlies) as I planted them on 30/3 and one variety have been flowering for a week or so. Maybe there might be enough littlies for dinner? Thankfully it is wet again just as it was drying out rather worryingly as I believe keeping spuds moist during flower time is important.

Also I'm having to do a colorado beetle patrol every day as I've squidged 6 so far.

[boboff]

I think I will!

[Millymollymandy]

Don't you like the skin? That's the best bit for me!

Don't mind the skin at all but it literally fell off when I washed them! and by the way they were absolutely to die for, go dig about a bit I'm sure you'll have enough for a meal by now!

I did, in my waterproofs in the rain and they are huge I mean I like little new potatoes not these big uns! Anyway these ones will be great for storers as baking spuds in a few weeks but the problem is that they were growing in bone dry soil - earthing up means the rain can't penetrate the soil as it just runs off so they have scab already. Going to get the seep hoses set up later this afternoon (in the rain!!!) to get some water through.

I think I need a new method of growing spuds that doesn't involve earthing up above ground level - plant them in foot deep trenches I think, then earth up to ground level so they can get moisture.

[Millymollymandy]

No it's OK, scab only affects the skin and is really only a problem for baking potatoes cos they don't look very pretty. It isn't very bad yet at all so I think if they get a good watering they will be fine.

I have too many to grow in car tyres (have about 45 plants) but I hadn't realised quite how dry it was in there under the leaf canopy of the spuds as it is nice and wet on the surface of the soil just really dry underneath. But I'm getting used to this kind of soil now - haven't got much choice!!!