Topic: 2nd crop potatoes.... challenge maybe, or at least camaraderie.

[jimtheworzel]

count me in , 15 july sounds ok  will plant sharpes express from this years crop


jimtheworzel

[calendula]

just out of interest what are considered to be the best spuds to sow for xmas - 1st earlies, 2nd earlies, early maincrop, later maincrop, last year's maincrop or ???

[Flighty]

Calendula first earlies apparently!

[lottie lou]

My Anyas look all dried and shrivelled nd I don't know if they will do anythin for me.  Would using a couple of mangy supermarket spuds be okay?

[Jeannine]

OK, it seem we have a planting date



                          15th July..St Swithans day


and so far joining us are..

Me....................Charlottes and a forgotten name one I shall call "Who Knows"
gwynethmary.........Kestrels
manicscousers.........Sharpes Express
Early pea................??
Jayb......................Charlottes and maybe Blue Danube
Digeroo..................  Red Duke of York
Lottie Lou...............Supermarket
Canendula..............Annabelle or Homeguard
Graceland..............??
onionsquash............Sarpo Mira.. welcome to you XX
Jim the Worzel........Sharpes Express.

OK next  few thing,as it might help the newbies

Pots or ground and if pots what size and what soil? If ground what protection.Ideas please

Fertilisation  plans?Ideas please

Chitting yes/no

Are we going to have an official harvesting day?  When?

Are we going to have an official firkling day? When?

Any other ideas, help always welcome.

How many of us are able to post pictures?


XX Jeannine

PS is you can't join us to play, we would enjoy a cheerleading group ;D

[jimtheworzel]

http://www.gardenertube.com/watch/e131bfc9d98363e55d1d/second-croppers

[Jeannine]

Thank you Jim, I had a time hearing the clip but I think it is my laptop whose audio is poor.


I finally managed to pluck up the courage to tip out one of the tubs I was growind my Charlottes in that I planted in the Spring before I got my lottie.

I uses 2 tubers and got 13 really good sized ones back and some walnut sized ones( the bigger would cut into 3 pieces for boiling if compared to how I would prepare old ones)

So I was quite happy with that.

I think I could do better, the pots I used were narrow at the bottom and about 16 across the top, looked like oversized regular plant pots. Next time I would use something that didn't waste so much bottom space. I am thinking in terms of a large storage box with drainage holes added, to give an idea of the size it would hold about three average sized growbags.

XX Jeannine

[gwynnethmary]

I was thinking I'd do mine in strong black plastic sacks, use ericaceous compost, and move them into the greenhouse if frost threatens.  I thought I'd quite like to do one lot aiming for my birthday (October 15th), and leave the others for as long as possible aiming at Christmas Day.  When I grew the last lot it was easy to tell  were ready because I could feel the hard lumps through the bag, and so I didn't really need to "firkle" (just love that word!)

[manicscousers]

we have 2 leaf bags with holes in the bottom and handles on(B&M 1.99)..we also have pot movers for them, again, cheapo ones..we will plant outside then move them into the poly if it becomes cold like last year, I have some ordinary soil and will mix some chicken pellets or bfb in with it, it's the watering when they're inside I'll have to watch out for , too little, no crop, too much, rot..rain water on the leaves, blight  ;D
chitting, it depends if they chit between now and then  ;D

[Jeannine]

Him Gwynne, can you explain the choice to use  erinacious compot pleas,

XX Jeannine

[gwynnethmary]

I read (somewhere!) that potatoes prefer acidic soil, and so I thought , as I had a bag of ericacous compost, that I would use it for my challenge potato back in February. As I had a crop of nice healthy poatoes I thought I'd do it again.  Perhaps I should try some in a multi purpose as well, just to test out the theory.

[cornykev]

Go on then, I might as well give it a bash.
Rockets or Kestrels
Planted in toy tubs in a sunny spot
Leaf mould to plant in with spud ferilizer
Fleecing when it starts to get cold.
 ;D ;D ;D

[Jayb]

Oooh this is sounding more and more fun  ;D
Looking forward to hearing how the different varieties and methods do.

Mine will be going into compost bags with approx 35l of multi purpose compost with organic chicken pellets mixed in, 2 tubers in each. If I have any potato bags free I'll also use them with 4-5 tubers per bag, filled as above. Although it seems more normal to top up with compost as they grow I'm going to fill the bags full after I plant. This has been working well for my spring grown tubers.

My tubers are already chitted as they are spring kept ones, but I find they grow very quickly when planted late in the year and would not worry if I had tubers not ready chitted.

I'm hoping, if we plant on the 15th to have some ready from mid October onwards, as long as blight avoids them long enough. I'll be leaving the remainder in bags to harvest as needed. I love mashed potato with Christmas dinner well potato and swede mashed to be exact so for me the treat would be new potatoes on Boxing Day, fantasitic ;D

Look forward to seeing other progress pictures and I'll try and post some as we go
x

[lottie lou]

If you fill your compost sack up at the beginning, won't it be too heavy for humping into the greenhouse when the weather gets cold?  Also does anyone think that my really mangy shrivelled Anyas will be any good for planting rather than my rather mangy supermarket ones or do you think I should save some of my Pentland Javelin after I harvest them in a couple of weeks time?

[Jayb]

Going on my frost dates I think mine will remain outside, maybe a bit of fleece if it looks risky. I think 35ltrs should be manageable if I do need to move them.

Have you got a picture of how the tubers look now as there is still a little time to go before planting? If they are very chrivelled maybe it would be better to try with Pentland J or perhaps some of each?

[lottie lou]

Sorry I got muddled up with the size - I was thinking of the 70L bags

[Jeannine]

Well I got a really big Rubbermaid box today and a bale of Sunshine mix 4 so I am all ready   to go. I have a sack of organic fertiliser just right for spuds
 I am going to start them out on the lottie to get the sun and pop a plastic tent over them as I do with toms to keep off the blight. They should be OK for a bit.When it starts to get cold I shall bring them home and set them on my balcony. I shall be planting some Charlottes kindly sent to me recently  by a smashing friend  who kept some back from Spring planting, they have chits on them. I am  also  planting one or two of the newly harvested Charlottes which grew from spuds sent over by the same pal earlier this year..although it was tough not  to eat them...they are my seed spuds for next year as I can't get Charlottes here.

 I have some Charlottes in flower too so am hoping they set seeds pods as they did in the UK so fingers crossed I will have some TPS too.

Thank you all for joining in

XX Jeannine

Oh I am getting excited about this.

[GRACELAND]

I am going to take part with some sprouting supermarket new spuds  (should be ok don't you think ? )

But  i could put them in   early  ie  before :D the 10th July or just after the 18th as i,m away on that week

[Jeannine]

Hi, welcome..I don't think it is critical to a few days, I doubt any of us are treating this as a contest.. more a trial and a bit of fun


Question for somebody..just how small can a seed potato be..is bigger,better or doesn't it matter. Could I for example plant the small walnut size ones I dug up a few days ago?
XX Jeannine

[Jayb]

I've had good results from smaller tubers, but had a search and thought these were quite intresting;

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,57896.0.html

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,48764.0.html

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,38754.0.html