[northfifeduckling]

If it has gone through I would give them a call with your order nr, quicker than waiting for an emailed reply and you can let off steam if needed. They must know about this glitch and I bet they will be very,very nice to you as a previous customer.

[Fluffywelshsheep]

ook like it still got a blip on it

Linz

[G0MZS]

I have a huge potato patch 15mX5m and this is the first time I've grown. I've read much about earthing up and have got myself in a tizzy, when is the best time to earth up? Do I cover the whole plant soon as I first see sight of it on the first earth up or do I wait for it to grow bigger then cover the plant up?

[rustyme]

hello Gomzs,
               as the sprouts pop up let them get to about 2" or so and cover them almost right up .. just leave the tips showing , then do the same again till you have the ridges and troughs done . No need to panic though .. you will get spuds from them even if you cock it up completely ...

 Cheers

 Russ

[sellickbhoy]

Rustyme probabaly knows better than me, as i've only done this once before!!

But i've grown some in container sacks, and when the leaves pop through, i've just covered them completely - a few days later they've popped through again, so more compost gets heaped on. the sack is now full and they've come through no problem

the ones i'm doin in my beds, i kinda tried something new in them!!

I dug troughs through my raised beds, and planted the spuds at the bottom of the trough, the plants have come through ok - and now i'ts just a case of gradually covering them over - filling the trough. Once they get leve with the trough, i'll continue to earth up - but i'm hoping that this way i'll not have to try a precarious balancing act and i'll get a better crop out of them

Also, as a complete bonus, looks like i dodn't completely dig out all of last years spuds as i've got 3 new spud plants popping out where i'm growing my beetroot this year.

I've planted far too much beetroot this year, so i don't mind losing soem for an extra bag of spuds!

My van is going in to get it's MOT in a few weeks. the guy has a huge mountain of old tyres in his yard, i'm gonna pick up a few dozen from him and plant some more spuds in the tyre stacks - and just run the tyre stacks down the back of the greenhouses and in other wee nooks that are otherwise unused

[northfifeduckling]

happens to me every year, SB. It's amazing how many (even huge) tatties get overlooked and start a whole new life of their own! I dig them up carefully and transplant them to where I want them. Has worked a treat so far.

[rustyme]

yep ...no hard and fast rules here SB,
          I sometimes cover them completely , just depends on the mood I am in and the weather . If it is early then cover to protect from frosts. Otherwise , not as important if you leave just the tips showing . I have tried half and half , it made no difference that I could detect!!!

cheers

Russ

[G0MZS]

I planted some second earlies and earthed up the soil when I planted, the other second early crop I planted and two main crops I planted flat to earth up as I go along so, yesterday I covered them all over when earthing up because we have had a couple of late frosts.... Wonderful advice on this forum by the way, great community the best on the net!

I will bore you all with a tail of good fortune I had this year. I use freecycle and spotted the offer of a 8x6 greenhouse so I asked and was offered it!! I rang my friend to ask if he would pick it up for me and he asked me if I wanted another greenhouse 10x8!!!! I thought I was in heaven at this point when a few weeks later, a couple of days ago, a neighbour was walking the dogs and mentioned she was pulling down the large polly.... She said the polly was for the tip but I was welcome to the frame!! Well I jumped at the chance since I had the room for them all, so, now we have two very nice alli framed green houses and a huge polly tunnel to grow our produce. I'm very excited for next year!

[northfifeduckling]

lucky you, what wonderful gifts! Did you find it easy putting all these up yourself?

[Wellieboots]

Gotta admit, I'm earthing up as well - but FYI Hugh FW in his big book (not to hand - can't remember title) also puts forward the don't bother to earth up argument. He reckons that you might lose a few spuds but isn't entirely necessary. I reckon he's looking at it from the commecial point of view, farmers create deep ridges, but still only plant the spuds about 4" deep, some green up whilst the rest are tickitieboo!

[doganjo]

Anybody received their free spuds yet?  How long did it take?  I ain't got mine yet, but can't remember when I ordered them.
Edit - just looked back - ordered on 26th so only 10 days so far.

[northfifeduckling]

no show so far, but the seeds I ordered with them arrived really quickly.

[sellickbhoy]

my rasps arrived

no word on the tatties, no reply about the pricing problem either

[doganjo]

My tatties have arrived - along with yet more seeds - tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, and something called cornsalad.  Anyone heard of these?  Also as I have already more than enough seeds already planted of all of these and the freebies from BBC, can I keep them for next year - or does anyone want any?  I still have half full packets from the ones I bought.  Might give them away on freecycle

[Fluffywelshsheep]

cornsalad you may now it better as lamb lettice  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_salad
Everything will last untill next year but you might have a problem with the carrot seed (you can always grow these in deep containers then you can freeze them if you have to many).

Linz