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

[kippers garden]

I noticed someone at my allotment sit has already dug their trenches ready to put their potatoes in.  I was just wondering how early other people do this and then how long afterwards do you plant your potatoes?

Is this a job that can be done now ready for planting potatoes at the beg April?  Does this have any dissadvantages?

I'd love to hear your comments.

[PAULW]

First and second early's in the ground yesterday, ridged up they will start growing when the soil warms up enough, thats another job out of the way.

[manicscousers]

Spuds for the challenge already  in the ground with lady chrystl and purple majesty under cloches. The next lot are going in, planted quite deep, on saturday  ;D

[grannyjanny]

Mal, how deep will you plant them & will you earth them up?

[cornykev]

Still a tad early as we still have frosts to come, I thought about digging trenches ahead of planting years ago Kipper, but as my mate explained your just going to have dry trenches as your losing the moisture to the Sun and the Wind, makes sense to me, so I've only trenched as I go along.  ;D

[claybasket]

Our potatoes are going in tommorow ,my OH digs a deep trench and puts well rotted manure in and gives a good soaking ,then the potatoes are put in it works for us :)

[gazza1960]

I read in todays paper that there is more wintry weather on the way and so far have not dug any trenches as I feared the frost would render them useless,im interested to read the confident answers from some and wary replies from others........ours are still in the shed,chitting under sacking in relative warmth.

Gazza   ???

[manicscousers]

Mal, how deep will you plant them & will you earth them up?

Hi, Janet
Ray digs a trench, maybe 6 to 8" deep, does a hole with a bulb planter then covers the row. He earths up sometimes, sometimes we mulch. We keep fleece handy, just in case. Not got the energy to put them all in at once so we start early and do a bed a week  ;D

[green lily]

Well the sun was out and my wonder woman in so we dug 3 trenches a spit + deep, put in sifted compost, folded newspapers, soaked the lot, mixed some fertilizer with the soil ,put out 16 potato  plants[real plants] covered them up to their noses and tonight the fleece has been rolled over. Hopefully some rain at the weekend would help to soak the lot in as water is scarce around here.
I plant deep and cover so I'm not really worried about the weather. If snows coming I shall put cardboard under the fleece!
I'd dig as you get opportunity and plant. Traditional spud planting was Good Friday which can be as early as mid-March. Earlies and Mains all went in on the only long weekend off for a working man.

[grannyjanny]

Thanks Mal. I think we'll plant & mulch ;D. Good luck with yours ;D.

[antipodes]

On my lonesome I couldn't dig trenches so I just stick in the spade really deep,  spud behind the spade, wiggle till it falls down behind it and pull spade out. Earth up as they start to appear. Save my energy for weeding :)

[bridgehouse]

I loved that , I was just wondering how I would manage to plant the spuds this year,I have been ill, and now I have back problems to . so I will try your method thanks for that.
   June.

[PAULW]

I read in todays paper that there is more wintry weather on the way and so far have not dug any trenches as I feared the frost would render them useless,im interested to read the confident answers from some and wary replies from others........ours are still in the shed,chitting under sacking in relative warmth.

Gazza   ???

Gazza look how many volenteers come up every spring after being in the ground all winter a nice blanket of soil over the top will keep them warm.

[louise stella]

I bought a digginh hoe last year and it's brilliant!  I can't wait to use it to plant my spuds this year - it will make it so much easier - and the earthing up!

[antipodes]

@bridgehouse
I get my little one to help me (one of the rare occasions!) I plant the shovel, push it well forward and she sticks the spud down behind it! I wiggle teh shovel a bit till the spud has dropped down. Then pull it out and the spud generally drops into the earth.  Maybe not planted as deep as in big trenches but it works all right for me, once you earth up and mulch  :)

[strawberry1]

lady christi, charlotte and kestrel all went in today. I have a wolf ridger and it worked brilliantly, I then positioned the spuds and dug a hole in the trench for each one, crumbling fine soil over to a depth of about 3-4 inches. I could be doing with a strong long handled bulb planter and then I wouldn`t have to bend at all. I read that spuds don`t need chitting, so I wouldn`t need to be as careful as I am now

Soil is warm in somerset, where I live and I`ll be getting the fleece out soon, just in case, but it is worth the risk

[cobnut]

I put some spuds in yesterday in the warm weather we had .. today it's snowing!! Are they going to be ruined?

[Kleftiwallah]

I think people are earthing up their spuds far too early.  There is a finite amount of food in a spud and the plant needs to have the sun on its leaves to convert into sugars for growth.  Earth up your newly planted spuds too early and there is a slim chance the spuds will run out of momentum before the leaves break through the 'unnaturally' deep soil.

Allow your spuds to 'break cover first and allow their leaves to see the sun then earth up to just below those leaves.  You may need to earth up more than once, but this will give you a more healthy spud plant.   

That's my Sunday morning lecture.  .  .  . :D     Cheers,    Tony.

[Pescador]

I never dig a trench just push spade in, plant behind it. Base of seed is 9'' deep, then earth up as the shoot develops.
 

[saddad]

I put some spuds in yesterday in the warm weather we had .. today it's snowing!! Are they going to be ruined?

No... the snow will be long gone before they emerge...  :)