[NorthEssexsmallholding]

mine are coming through now,

[suziequeue]

I think DH put some grass cuttings at the bottom of the trench before he put the potatoes in. Is there anything else I can pour on?

I have some sheep poo and nettle liquid fertilser.

Will that help?

[Fleecewife]

Once they are growing strongly, flower buds forming, you could use a liquid feed - soak sheep muck in a bucket and drain off the liquor, it's great stuff     For grass clippings, I spread them in a layer about 2" thick over all the bare ground between the rows.  This helps to suppress weeds, then when you row up, the now-dried clippings are above the potato plants and help with soil fertility too.  Spread more clippings and repeat.  Another thing potatoes are fond of is comfrey, you can use it to line the trench (although I find my comfrey is not usually ready to crop when I am planting tatties) or lay some chopped along the row of plants just before you row up, so it is covered along with the plants, or you can apply it as a liquid feed when the plants start to flower and you want to bulk up the crop.  Don't spray liquid feed on the leaves as that might increase the risk of blight by increasing the humidity, but apply it direct to the soil around the roots.  Mostly they just need lots of water at that stage.

[Leanne]

This year, for the first time, I grew my spuds (Wilja and Charlotte) in containers. I've always grown in the ground before and I made the huge mistake of not leaving enough room for much earthing up.  So, I now have potato trees. Have I wasted them completely? Should I just empty them and start again? 

[Plantoid]

When we used to plant spuds by hand ( before 1970 ) Ron the farmer would use his muck spreader to lightly dress the ready to plant ridges with well composted almost black crumbling cow & pig muck /straw  .
Uncle Jack was a farm worker  but not quite so stupid as people seem to think farm hands are.

 At home he would happily bung in a barrow load of the same sort of well rotted manure in at a time at the rate of one every 20 feet or so in the empty furrow . The spuds were set  in the furrow on the manure and earthed over.

Jacks spuds were massive ,always tastier than my dads , slug free and never needed watering, he also lightly dressed the spuds with a powdered fish , bone and blood dressing at each earthing up after the initial planting. I seem to recall Jack also used epsom salts & calcified seaweed & the occasional real guano dressing , "To bring the garden up " as he put it.
 He never used any of the artificial all in one  chemical fertilizers .. He and his bro lived to be 87 yrs old each which is not bad for someone born in  1899 and 1902 Jack always said it's what you grow & eat that keeps you alive so long.

[ellied]

Mine are in bags and they have come up quite a lot very fast while I wasn't checking and are way out the top by 6-8" at a guess - is it too late to add more earth or will they survive being drowned in earth by that amount in one go?

I really must pay more attention but I'd been focused on weed growth rates after the recent rains and assumed bags would be ok on their own for a bit

Also I have nearly half a sack of tatties, well soft and sprouted, in the back of the kitchen which I realised when sticking a hand in for a couple to cook   Worth planting a few more or if not how to dispose without finding tatties growing out the compost heap and anywhere it is used on the garden for years to come?   Seems a waste to chuck them all given they're so keen to grow but I'd need an acre to plant them all and it's nearly June

[Plantoid]

Ideal .....add  more decent friable earth to just have the tops poking through & water as well as adding fertilizer of your choice , add a cut off bottom bag and tape in place to extend the original bag if & when needed . But try and top up when tops are only 6 inches through in future

 Last year I used two taped together grey plastic centre cores fron some large cable drums to make a tube 20 inches across and four feet high .
Came back form three weeks holiday to find blight had totally wiped out tomatoes and all spuds as it was so hot and humid whilst we were away.