Topic: How early do you dig potato trenches....

[cornykev]

But will the frosts.  ???

[saddad]

Possibly not... but an earthing up or a bit of fleece should tide them over..  :-X

[PeterVV]

My wife ordered my spuds a s a christmas present, and unfortunately they arrived two weeks before Christmas!, I had them chitting in my garage, but as it is damp, and temperatures fell below freezing a few times, all my earlies died, so I have only just bought replacements, hoping to get them in in a week to a fortnight, not a lot of time to get them chitted!

[Digeroo]

I dug some of my tatty trenches in the autumn so all I need to do is to throw in some of the chitted spuds.  I have put in a few already for the challenge, and will put in some more this week.  If the leaves start to show and there is a frost forecast you can just earth them up or throw over some plastic or fleece. 

I thought that easter was the time for planting spuds.  Interesting to hear people are doing it now.  As you say the volunteers seem to know what they are about and pop up well enough.  Even with the -16 last winter they were ok under the soil.

[lin]

Funny how we all have our own "tried and tested" ways of doing this. I was a complete newbie to plots 10 years ago and I started by digging trenches through March at intervals to save my back instead of doing all the digging at once.
Then I put straw in the bottom of the trench and just before the last week in March I put in fertilizer and cover with a fine layer of earth. Then end of March early April bed the spuds in nice warmish, fertilised straw, water well and cover.

I have never failed with my spuds and so will continue the same way. When my back says no, might try just dropping a spud in a hole and see what happens, I know a few of the older guys on our plot do that and still get good results, Lin

[Robert_Brenchley]

You put a seed or a tuber in a hole and it grows. I've a sneaking suspicion that half of what we do is more to make us feel good than anything.