Potato dilema

[Kea]

I should have been planting my chitted potatoes this week. However my soil is not ready because it was too heavy and wet to work. Now it has set into giant clods like concrete lumps which I can't break up. i've run out of time now as we are on holiday for the next two weeks so my potatoes are going to have to remain chitting on the window sill! I'm hoping when I come back I won't have large potato plants sitting there....return of the triffids!

I have covered my potato plot with carpet while I'm away in the hope the ground softens and I can dig it easily when I get back. :(
I did get another row of raspberries in, I felt they had priority over the potatoes!

[Kea]

[saddad]

We are hoping to put ours in over the next fortnight... covering it should stop it baking hard if we get some more sun!
:)

[caroline7758]

Think rain is forecast at the end of the week?

[jennym]

Last year I had the same problem as the only space I had available was a small uncultivated piece of land, soil is very heavy clay. I had already decided not to grow so many as usual, the area was about 20 ft square. What I did was to just put the potatoes on the surface of the soil and then cover them with loads and loads of compost from the compost heap. I guess the layer was about a foot deep. As they grew, more compost was tipped on instead of the traditional earthing up with a draw hoe. They grew beautifully, got a good crop and they were easy to get at, the compost just pulled away leaving lovely clean spuds, no digging! I read recently on here about using grass clippings and shredded waste paper, may give that a go this year too.

[grawrc]

Brilliant idea Jen! As usual :)

[john-the-window]

Hi
If you cover with carpet the sun and wind wont be able to dry out the ground, all the carpet is doing is
preventing the ground to dry out.

Put your chitted spuds in the fridge to hold them, it's OK for up to two weeks but the temp must not go under +2 centigrade
regards
John

[cornykev]

I don't to upset anyone but my ground was so dry this week I had to wet it before I could dig it.   8) ;D ;D ;D

[petercostello1]

get them in when ground ready. i would suggest not to bother chitting. A recent gardeners world examination showed it made little difference.

[bennettsleg]

I shouldn't worry.  My pot bed's only 3/4 mulched 1/4 weed supressing cloth, we're away for a 3-day weekend, the weather's pants and the pots are still in the back of the car.  They arrived fairly late from T&M with nary a chit to be seen and they'll go in when the weather/land is right chit or no chit.

Last year demonstrated to me that pots are acutally quite tough - loads of inherited desiree (i think) popping up all over the plot... and it had been rortorvated just before I took over!

[Robert_Brenchley]

Spuds are extremely tough, and as you will find, hard to get rid of. Keep at it, as accidentals are the classic source of blight.

[telboy]

Kea,
Sympathise, my soil is likewise.
Covered in whatever rotted stuff I had & rotivated.
Was surprised that when the tattie trenchies were dug, how friable the soil was.
Putting in desiree tomorrow. Arran pilot went into better soil a few days ago.

[Jitterbug]

I also rotovated a section of my new lottie that had not been used for some time - not much perennial weds only grass.  The bed measures 27ft x 6 ft.  When I was digging the trenches to plant my potatoes I found that the top most section was slightly clay and the ground dried in hard lumps so my sympathy to all you guys that have to deal with that kind of soil all over your lottie.

I did managed to get all my first early in Epicure, Rocket, Duke of York and Vivaldi.  Will try and get my second earlies in over Eastern week-end and then the maincrop a week or two later.

First time I am growing on a large (lottie) scale so hope I am no deluged with potatoes.

Jitterbug

[Kea]

Came back from holiday on Sunday. Fortunately the carpet had helped retain the moisture. I dug over the potato plot again and watered it covered it now today I've forked it over removed the most resistant clods watered and covered again. Now I can plant tomorrow. The potatoes look fine the two week wait doesn't seem to have bothered them. The weeds on my plot have done very well in my absence though!