Potatoes in tubs

[ellkebe]

Last weekend I got sufficiently worried about the state of some of my chitted potatoes (plus, to be honest, impatient to plant something, anything ...  ;D) that I did my potato tubs.  Have checked on them and all seems fine in general but the compost already feels very dry.  I'm wondering whether to water, but then if they're not actively growing will the tubers just rot if they get too wet?  Help .... !!  Mind you, it's nice to be worrying about growing things again, in a nerve wracking, fingernail biting kind of way  ;D    Now, do I risk transferring my pea seedlings to the coldframe today, or .....

[ellkebe]

[Robert_Brenchley]

Potatoes sit in wet ground all winter, then sprout in the spring. They're tougher than people sometimes give them credit for. I'm still holding off though.

[flowerlady]

Now, do I risk transferring my pea seedlings to the coldframe today

ellkebe I planted mine out on the lottie today!  decided to run the gauntlet with the pigeons and the meeces!!

like you feel quite eager to grow something!!  bought some early early new spuds to grown in pots, and as I'm using good old b7q compost will definitely water them, stand the pots on 2-3 stones to make sure the drainage is working if you are worried about them sitting in damp soil.

[Anne Robertson]

I've got two growing in tubs but the soil (compost from compost bin) must have been full of wood lice, is it them that are eating the shoots that peak above the soil? I've killed about 30 so far!

[ellkebe]

Watering it is then - as we're clearly not going to get any rain  :(

Ani - hope you have some luck with the potatoes soon.  Have to admit that I have a snealking fondness for woodlice - sort of like little hedgehogs, only without the spikes  - and not mammals - so, not that much like little hedgehogs! but I like 'em  ;D

[Anne Robertson]

Potatoes looking much healthier now, must have got all the wood lice out.
I'm doing about 30 tubs (flower buckets) with one potato in each, these are lots of different varieties and it's much easier to keep account of what's what in a tub.
I planted 3 rows of first earlies on the lotties this week and covered with my free fleece So fingers crossed for the lot.