potatoes again!

[simmo116]

hi gang. im woried that my potatoes are going to take over nearly all my beds.i;ve orderd 7 pounds of each variety and looking at teegees spacing guides im getting worried. my beds are 10 foot x 4-5 foot aprox. and ive got 5 beds so far. my half a plot is getting smaller week by week... ??? ???

[simmo116]

[ceres]

Don't plant them all then.  Decide how many of your beds you're happy to allocate to potatoes and fill them.  Give the extra spuds away or stick the excess in containers - old dustbins / compost bags / even big buckets.  Once you have an allotment plot, it's never big enough!

[Plot69]

my half a plot is getting smaller week by week... ??? ???

Not going to say I told you so but...

The one most often used phrase and advice given to any newcomer on this forum is... "No matter how big it looks, it's not going to be big enough"  ::)

Could you not put them an inch or two closer and squeeze in a couple of extra seeds per row? I always allow 1/3 of a 10 rod plot for spuds and if I don't plant it all I can always fill it with something else.

[simmo116]

i think thats what im going to do. also we dont much eat salad spuds so will concentrate on seconjd and main crop.

[cornykev]

I did it a few years ago Simmo and I gave away some to some fellow lottie holders who had left in late ordering and any failures I had that year they were more than happy to supply me with there surplus, job done.  ;D ;D ;D

[caroline7758]

i think thats what im going to do. also we dont much eat salad spuds so will concentrate on seconjd and main crop.

I'd be tempted to concentrate on early and second, as the later ones are more likely to get blight. Depending on what variety of "salad" ones you have, you may just be able to leave them to get bigger if you prefer them that way.

[simmo116]

 :) oh great now I'm in an even bigger quandary

[ericelf]

I use old car tyres from my local garage they're usually glad to be rid of them. Stack them up usually about three high fill with compost and plant spuds, when earthing up you can always put another tyre on top, saves space. :)

[littlebabybird]

i think thats what im going to do. also we dont much eat salad spuds so will concentrate on seconjd and main crop.

there are some very nice earlys that arent salad's

lbb

[manicscousers]

I use old car tyres from my local garage they're usually glad to be rid of them. Stack them up usually about three high fill with compost and plant spuds, when earthing up you can always put another tyre on top, saves space. :)

Hiya, ericelf, welcome to the site  ;D
we have tyres that we used to grow spuds in, used to do quite well with them, too  :)
what variety of spuds have you got, simmo ?

[saddad]

Welcome to the site Ericelf...
Don't bring tyres on without clearing it with your committee first, some can be very stroppy about such things...  :-X

[simmo116]

accent /irst early
charlotte/second
desiree for main crop.
they come on wednesday  ;D 7 pounds of each!

[ericelf]

Thanks for your E-Mail Lucy, I don't line the tyres first just fill them with compost, use stuff from compost bin at the bottom then top them up. It's ok saddad I don't have an allotment just a vegi patch at the bottom of the garden it's suprising what you can grow there but yes your right some allotments could get funny so check first before you turn up with a pile of old tyres.