Topic: when should I lift my potatoes?

[adrianhumph]

Hi all, 8)
              My first & second early spuds are now big enough to eat, :P, As I have quite a few plants  should i leave them in the ground and dig as required, or should I dig them all up & store them ??? Any ideas please.
                                            Adrian.

[Derekthefox]

Lift them as required Adrian.
Being earlies, they will not keep, so you will probably want to eat them all by the end of the summer (2nd earlies by about Christmas).
They are best kept in the ground until imminent consumption, as they then taste better than anything you could imagine . . .
Just get them up before the frosts arrive.
As a general question, what varieties have you planted, and what are your own opinions on their flavour?

[adrianhumph]

Hi Derek :D
              Thanks for the advice on lifting my potatoes, I have grown the following, swift, pentland javelin, saxon, maris peer, & nadine, so far we have tasted saxon , these are good, a flourery texture, no sign of any disease (this is my first year of growing vegetables) we have also tried the pentland javelin, these are more waxy in texture and very tasty,also no sign of any disease. More reports on the other varieties to follow ;D
                                              cheers , Adrian.

[Mrs Ava]

I shall be digging as we need.  Ava and the kids dug up just 2 pentland javelin plants today and we left the plot with over half a bucket of spuds!  They were gorgeous!!  :P

[philcooper]

I would leave the Saxon for later, they make excellent bakers! (hence the floury taste)

And despite being only a second early, keep reasonably well

[ruud]

Hi everybody,i have the following variaties:arran victory,catriona,violette noir,dunbar rover and pink fir apple.I am growing potatoes for the first time,so does anyone has some experiance with does variaties i am growing.I dug some arran victory they look great quiet purple skin.The taste i can tell you tomorrow after six.

[Multiveg]

I believe Arran Victory is a late maincrop, so I won't be lifting mine for quite a while - prob september/october. Pink Fir Apple is also a maincrop, I think, off the top of my head. Catriona is a second early. The other 2, I have not heard of.

[tim]

Ruud - Pink Fir? - we lift in September. We could still eat last year's if there was nothing else. But they are chitting fairly strongly now.

Very straggly - haulms can be 4' long. Hence Anya - similar qualities but much neater.

Essentially a salad pot but great in casseroles & many other forms. Can reach th size of a banana! = Tim

[philcooper]

Arran Victory is definitely a late maincrop and I leave it in the groiund as late as possible

[rdak]

have just started to lift my first earlies (Arran Pilot) 15 weeks after planting (guidance from T&M said from 10 weeks) and only about 3 in 10 are a decent size, the rest being marble size.
Does anyone know any reason why this is? Is it the weather this year? Have not grown Arran Pilot before, but last year grew 2nd Earlies Charlotte and was getting easily twice the number of spuds per plant, and much larger.

[philcooper]

Ross,

The weather this year has not been bad in my neck the woods and we're not too far apart.

I have found A Pilot to be low on yiled but high on taste

Phil

[rdak]

thanks Phil. Agree the taste is good, at least!