Topic: when should rocket potatoes flower?

[vee]

This may be a daft question , but I haven't grown potatoes before as it's my first season on my plot. What I want to know is - do Rocket potatoes flower and if so, when? I planted them on 25th March and they look good, but there is no sign of a flower. They will be my first ever crop so I am getting impatient! Just about everything I have planted as seed has either failed to germinate or came up and then disappeared, even supposedly foolproof radishes. I have now planted more peas, runner beans, french beans and courgettes started at home which are doing well(ish). Three separate sowings of carrots and two of parsnips have failed to come up, so you can see why I am desperate to have something to show for the months of clearing, weeding and digging of my new plot. I also posted a previous question about whether it was OK to use stagnant water (of which I have a wheely bin full) on plants but only Svea answered and he would like to know too. You're all so knowledgeable here,I'm sure someone must know! Thanks in advance and also for all the useful stuff I've learned already just reading everyone else's questions - I am an addict!

[Robert_Brenchley]

Don't worry about flowers, grope around the roots and see if there are any spuds down there yet.

[Mothy]

I'm a novice so in no position to give advice really!!
So here goes.
My Rocket were dug over a week ago and not a single flower in sight! As Robert says, have a scrape around and see whats there!! (half the fun I reckon).

If you've had problems with radish, I bet it's down to flea beetle as it's been so dry!! Try using derris powder, cheap from Wilko's!!

I've o0n; y had success with carrots sown in May, it was so cold earlier that around 3 attempts failed. Try again, it's not too late.

Same goes for parsnips, seed packet said Feb......put the 2nd lot in during April and they're flying now. 1st lot never came up!

I don't know about stagnant water though....sorry!

Don't lose heart.....even with good adviceI've had loads of failures that I will remember for next year!!  Good luck!  ;D
 

[Doris_Pinks]

I would use stagnant water on my veg, it is probably full of all sorts of lovely stuff! But I could be wrong!  (if you could smell my nettle brew, stagnant water would be perfume!)

As the others have said, have a dig around in your spuds, they don't necessarily have to be flowering to be ready!

Radish, your best bet is to sow under fleece, and keep it over them until harvest.

We all have failures, my runner beans got decimated by who knows what, as did my carrots, even under fleece, but don't be disheartened, something will eventually grow, thats half the fun!     DP

[redimp]

Mix stagnant water with clean water.  That way you will know anything harmful has been watered down so its harmless but any benefit in the water will go into the soil.

[busy_lizzie]

Everything on my plot is later this year vee, probably because of the very cold and frosty spring.  I planted a few things in March that just didn't show and I am sure it was the weather conditions, as things I planted later came up okay.  So don't give up hope for your pots yet.

I think I would just use the stagnant water, don't think you could do any harm with it.  :) busy_lizzie

[Kepouros]

Don`t worry about Rocket not flowering - they rarely do.  I`ve been growing them for many years and have never had more than the odd flower.  Finger check.

If your stagnant water is merely tap or rain water which has simply gone stagnant through standing it is perfectly o.k. to use it - the stagnation is just algae growth through the action of sunlight on the water.

[philcooper]

Vee,

Rocket don't flower often see http://www.potato.org.uk/seedSearch.asp?fn=display&sec=446&con=458&seedId=57&agentIndex=0&variety=rocket&breederIndex=0

They also "go off" quickly (ie get big and loose their new potato flavour - whcih I don't think they have at the best of times). So as has been advised, lift one to see how they are doing and don't wait for them to get big, hen's egg size is the maximum

Phil

[Robert_Brenchley]

Don't worry about using stagnant water, it's perfectly good.

[Mrs Ava]

I have a lovely row of lush green rocket growth, and no flowers, yet other spuds are smothered in flowers!  I have dug a couple of Rocket plants, planted at the start of March, and have been rewarded with lots of decent sized spuds, some quite big actually!

Radish, well I am a bit hit and miss with radish due to the lack of water on our allotment site.  Mine bolts very quickly if it is dry for a long period.  Pick a spot, make a drill, water it well, sow a few, cover, then fleece if you can, or have the derris powder on standby as the flea beetles will ravage the lot as they germinate.  Then, as soon as the first few are poking through the ground, sow another pinch, and so on and so on.  Then you should have a good succession of radish, all various sizes.

Peas, well if I plant them directly early in the spring, the mice eat them, even when protected with chicken wire so now I start them off in pots.  Runner and french beans are tender as can be, so better to start them off in May, again, I do them in pots, but of course, the slugs just love them!  Courgettes and other squashes are also very tender, so don't start them off until April-ish, for planting out mid to late May, depending on local forecasts.  Again, slugs love 'em.  It seems a lot of people have been having difficulties getting squash to germinate this year.....so you are not alone...me, can't get a darn melon plant to grow and I have begged and pleaded with them!

Parsnips, mine took a month to germinate and I did Sanders way of sowing, made a drill, watered it, sowed the seeds, a couple every couple of inches or so, then covered the drill with potting compost.   It didn't get a crust, I could see the row, and 4 weeks later, a nice even row of parsnip seedlings!  Same with carrots, although some didn't bother to germinate at all!  I do recall reading that some people omit an oil in their hands which can stop carrots from germinating!  No idea on the truth of that, but since reading it, I now only sow carrots from a folded sheet of paper so my hands don't touch them at all.  I then covered with fleece, and left them to it.  They are doing okay....not amazing, but okay.

Stagnant water, don't worry about it!  My only water is a little teeny stream, well a ditch really, and about now, after a long dry spell, it will be pretty much dry, apart fom a few puddles, and BOY do they stink!!!!  If in doubt, don't pour the water directly onto the crops, direct it to the side....which is what I do on the rare occasions I water seedlings.

You still have ample time to sow carrots, radish and parsnips again.  The parsnips won't be prize winning thick as your arm roots, but they will be perfect for roasting with your Sunday lunch come winter.  Carrots, I will still be sowing until September time and the same for radish.  In fact, radish and lettuce will be sowed again and again through the winter in the greenhouse!

Good luck Vee.  We all have crops that for no apparent reason do b*gger all, and some year we have a glut, the next, famine!  Tis what makes allotmenteering and gardening such fun.............apparenlty!!!

[vee]

Thank you all so much for your encouragement! I went to the plot today and took your advice and dug up two rocket potato plants and they were fab! There was enough for three servings, so I was quite happy with that as I have planted them too close together(another lesson learned for next year). The taste and texture was much better than the ones you buy in the shops so I'm really chuffed to say the least.
To my surprise there were also two neat rows of radish which have popped up since last time I was there. I also sowed some more carrots, parsnip and beetroot, and another couple of rows of radish and spring onions. The runner beans, french beans and courgettes are doing well too. I think that everything I put in before was just too early for this part of the country(north of England).It really is a steep learning curve the first year on a plot.
I'm pleased you think the water will be OK as it's easier to just water things from a bin rather than go to the stand pipe. Thanks again

[Svea]

glad to hear all is coming on nicely now :)

and svea is a girl ;)

[vee]

Oops! Sorry Svea, should have looked at the little picture! :-[

[redimp]

For that matter Vee, as it's not in your profile - what are you?  We all like to use the right pronoun (just off to check mine)

Yeah it's there - I'm definitely a bloke   :o ;D

[vee]

What am I? That's a very philosophical question for this time of night! I'm actually a woman but if you saw me after doing battle with couch grass, marestail, nettles, midges,slugs and assorted carrot- like roots on my plot you would be hard pushed to believe it.

[redimp]

She it is then.  Will try not to dwell on the last bit  :o