Allotments 4 All

Now planted out my broad beans, mangetouts and peas, the potatoes are showing and the onions and garlic look good. Waiting nervously for the tomatoes, courgettes and squash to germinate. I was going to sow brassicas and cucumbers this weekend, but it's still cold and other things have got in the way.

Parsnips and carrots I planted at the start of the month are finally coming through...
Despite the cool weather the soil is warming up...

Humph!

Thank you so much Galina and JanG for your advice!
Galina, I remembered reading about the toothpick trick somewhere... turns out it was in one of your posts from the link JanG shared. Haha! I love that forum and I must have read through it several times. It's such a shame it's not that active anymore (and I'm a few years late...).

I'll pot on the seedlings over the next few days, choosing a majority of the darkest stems and just a few greens because I'm curious! (The fact I don't have enough room for the hundreds of seedlings accumulating all over the place is a problem for another day...  )

I very much identify with your feeling of flirting with impending chaos over the number of seedlings accumulating - a slightly reckless enjoyment mixed with a pushed away awareness that some culling will have to happen at some point. We can enjoy the profusion for the time being!

And I too regret that GFSS is no longer really active (although it’s possible still to post and you are almost certain to get a response) and that I came a little late, but, as you suggest, it is a mine of useful, interesting, and inspiring content.

I agree with Galina that growing potatoes from seed is an enjoyable exploration and you might well be experimenting for a few years with the small tubers you get this year. I grew potatoes from seed in 2020 (and again this year from Galina’s seed like you) and I’m still taste testing and narrowing down what was produced that year. I had 40+ varieties the first year and have narrowed down to about ten now. Of course what you grow on depends a lot on what space you can give them.

To go to your original question, Juliev, I would narrow down to one per cell at some point. If you’re hoping for inky potatoes as in the images on the Airtable base and earlier on this thread, I would narrow down to the ones with darkest stems and leaves but you might want to go for a range. I think potting on after a while before finally planting them out is definitely a good idea so that you’re planting out reasonably strong plants. You can bury them quite deep if they get a bit leggy and that helps to strengthen them too. I love seeing tiny potatoes developing in the pot before planting out! You might find this thread helpful and interesting when I asked similar questions and got advice on early stages in 2020.
https://www.growingfoodsavingseeds.co.uk/forum/main-forum/potatoes/2039-growing-potatoes-from-true-potato-seeds-tps

But I hope you get lots of fun out of them and that Galina and I haven’t complicated matters too much with our enthusiasm! They’re good survivors with a will to grow, even though they look delicate in the early stages.