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Author Topic: potato timing?  (Read 7719 times)

chairmanphil

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Oxfordshire
potato timing?
« on: March 25, 2012, 04:25:39 pm »
when is the best time to get the potatoes in on a warm spring like tis?
1 acre of land where i am clearing trees and a swimming pool so we can make the land productive. MK3 hilux single cab pickup which has been completely rebuilt over the last 2 years matt black and cool as! no animals yet except a very furry black cat called Hansel (he is so hot right now)

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: potato timing?
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2012, 06:30:25 pm »
You have to judge it backwards from the last average frost for your area - don't be suckered by the lovely warm weather we are having - there is still plenty of time for snow, at least up here .  Here we can get frosts into early June, so I tend to plant my potatoes out in the middle of April.  They take a couple of weeks to come through = early May, then they are small enough to be earthed up whenever frost threatens for about another 4 weeks or so.  I'm sure in the south you can get away with planting them now, as long as you are vigilant about possible frosts.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

deepinthewoods

  • Guest
Re: potato timing?
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2012, 06:46:04 pm »
plant them every few weeks to be sure.

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Qui? Moi?
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Re: potato timing?
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2012, 06:58:15 pm »
In Aberdeenshire we had a saying - plant tatties at the spring holiday weekend(April 25th) , harvest in the July (Start of Trades) holiday weekend. July 11th.
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

Odin

  • Joined Oct 2011
  • Huddersfield
Re: potato timing?
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2012, 07:41:14 pm »
Despite the surface frosts and anything can happen yet, I would be tempted to start a few, I have (not putting all my eggs in one basket). I have still got a few in the ground from last year as I did not manage to get them all out. They are well chitted with good strong new shoots. If they break through the soil, there are not to many in to cover.
A man who cannot till the soil cannot till his own soul !
A son of the soil .

chairmanphil

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Oxfordshire
Re: potato timing?
« Reply #5 on: March 29, 2012, 08:55:22 am »
going to put the first king teds in today.
1 acre of land where i am clearing trees and a swimming pool so we can make the land productive. MK3 hilux single cab pickup which has been completely rebuilt over the last 2 years matt black and cool as! no animals yet except a very furry black cat called Hansel (he is so hot right now)

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: potato timing?
« Reply #6 on: March 29, 2012, 09:27:18 am »
Oh I love King Edwards - so tasty, but they always get blight in my garden (this used to be a potato farm years ago and the spores have stayed) so I can't grow them  :(
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

chairmanphil

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Oxfordshire
Re: potato timing?
« Reply #7 on: March 29, 2012, 09:32:08 am »
Oh I love King Edwards - so tasty, but they always get blight in my garden (this used to be a potato farm years ago and the spores have stayed) so I can't grow them  :(

i'll make you some patatas bravas next time you are in Oxfordshire!  ;)
1 acre of land where i am clearing trees and a swimming pool so we can make the land productive. MK3 hilux single cab pickup which has been completely rebuilt over the last 2 years matt black and cool as! no animals yet except a very furry black cat called Hansel (he is so hot right now)

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: potato timing?
« Reply #8 on: March 29, 2012, 11:47:00 am »
Oh I love King Edwards - so tasty, but they always get blight in my garden (this used to be a potato farm years ago and the spores have stayed) so I can't grow them  :(

i'll make you some patatas bravas next time you are in Oxfordshire!  ;)

Well thank you  :wave:  but that could be some time away  :D :D but send me the recipe and I'll make my own.  I grow a variety of tattie types so something will do  :yum: :yum: :thumbsup:  At the moment I am stuck for new recipes - my OH has very specific dietary requirements, so any simple recipes that don't take all day to prepare, made with home-grown ingredients will be MOST gratefully accepted.
At the moment I have tatties, onions, garlic, kale and PSB, plus stored squashes and whatever is in the  freezer, including HebHogget, plus endless eggs of course - does that inspire some recipe ideas?
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

chairmanphil

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Oxfordshire
Re: potato timing?
« Reply #9 on: March 29, 2012, 12:31:22 pm »
loads i'm a chef! will have a did through for ya and see what i can come up with.
1 acre of land where i am clearing trees and a swimming pool so we can make the land productive. MK3 hilux single cab pickup which has been completely rebuilt over the last 2 years matt black and cool as! no animals yet except a very furry black cat called Hansel (he is so hot right now)

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: potato timing?
« Reply #10 on: March 29, 2012, 10:54:15 pm »
Thank you Chef, I look forward to trying whatever you design  :thumbsup: 8)

How about a weekly recipe of in-season produce?  I think many of us would love that, both during gluts and when there isn't much at all to work with in the veg patch.....
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

chairmanphil

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Oxfordshire
Re: potato timing?
« Reply #11 on: March 29, 2012, 11:11:32 pm »
Thank you Chef, I look forward to trying whatever you design  :thumbsup: 8)

How about a weekly recipe of in-season produce?  I think many of us would love that, both during gluts and when there isn't much at all to work with in the veg patch.....

sounds like a plan. i put your patatas recipe up earlier so have a go at that and i'll get you a brussell sprout recipe to have a got at with the last of them. mind you i would think the heat of the last few days has finished them off!
1 acre of land where i am clearing trees and a swimming pool so we can make the land productive. MK3 hilux single cab pickup which has been completely rebuilt over the last 2 years matt black and cool as! no animals yet except a very furry black cat called Hansel (he is so hot right now)

sellickbhoy

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Muiravonside, near Linlithgow
Re: potato timing?
« Reply #12 on: April 11, 2012, 12:17:18 am »
this is my rule of thumb

when you are just about all set and ready to plant them and the weather is fine and the world is just peachy

leave it another 2/3 weeks as there is bound ot be a frost on it's way!!!

i was always told to plant them after paddy's day (Mar 17th) but thats far too early for Scotland. I'd leave it until the end of april - and then plant them at 1 week intervals over 4 weeks

this year, i plan to start some very late - July time - but they'll be kepy in containers in the greenhouse - hoping for fresh charlotte spuds at christmas time!

Also, to save my back this year, i'm going to try growing my spuds in a stack of tyres i picked up from the local exhaust and tyre fitter.

simply lay 1 tyre on the ground, fill with compost, stick in seed spuds - when teh shoots come out, add a tyre, fill with compost and repeat for as long as you can manage. At harvest time, instead of digging, just take off a tyre at a time and shake the muck out

fingers crossed!!!!


MikeM

  • Joined Jul 2011
  • NW Devon
Re: potato timing?
« Reply #13 on: April 11, 2012, 07:32:57 am »
I generally time my planting to the time when I manage to get the spud beds dug over (or dug in this case, as I'm breaking new ground and use the spuds as a clearing crop). As I've been held up for a few weeks with other stuff, I'll start that today.

chairmanphil

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Oxfordshire
Re: potato timing?
« Reply #14 on: April 12, 2012, 03:32:38 pm »
putting the first ones in this weekend! still some light frosts but nothing too mad so here we go!
1 acre of land where i am clearing trees and a swimming pool so we can make the land productive. MK3 hilux single cab pickup which has been completely rebuilt over the last 2 years matt black and cool as! no animals yet except a very furry black cat called Hansel (he is so hot right now)

 

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